


Stay On Time

by Vaiin1997



Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Amaterasu is an OC NetNavi based on a Shinto Deity, Angst, Deals, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Investigation, M/M, Oblivious, One-Sided Attraction, Other, Parallel Universes, Parallel world, Secret Base, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2019-08-14 14:57:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 38,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16494839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaiin1997/pseuds/Vaiin1997
Summary: Netto and Rockman's day should be as simple as the equation of 1+1=2. But things went dramatically bizarre, starting from an unasked date, to noticing the oddity in the amusement park, to discovering a secret base in a haunted house. On top of it all, an ethereal being was connected to the case. However, when a circumstance forced Netto to be trapped into a world he didn't belong, he experienced something he never had in life and was forced to choose a life where Saito Hikari had survived HBD or to stay in the current life. (Post-Beast+ timeline)Edit: Summary.





	1. Summer's One Day Away

**Author's Note:**

> Summary: Netto couldn’t wait for summer vacation to start.
> 
> Note: Rockman and Netto aren't twins or have any blood relation or whatsoever.

Summer started tomorrow. Every student was elated for the long-awaited holiday ahead of them, some even cheered. But those soon were crushed by Mariko-sensei who issued them a stack of summer homework. Most had to groan and whine in blatant disappointment. Netto, too, was one of them. He disliked homework, but better that than a project. Though, he preferred it even more if there was none for the entire summer holiday or any day at all.

Class ended and Netto had plans to make for the rest of summer; the fun and exciting kind of plans, to be exact. He stood up from his seat. His childhood friend, Meiru, joined him on their way home.

“So,” Meiru drawled the ‘o’, her curious eyes glancing at Netto. “What’s your plan for the whole summer break, Netto?”

Netto hummed, fingers intertwined behind his head as he looked up at the sky. “I dunno. I’ve a lot of plans in my hands for the summer but I haven’t organized them yet.” He turned to Meiru, his eyes sparkled in an excitement her childhood friend clearly recognized. “But I know even if I didn’t, it’ll still be exciting!”

“Mou, Netto-kun. That’s irresponsible of you,” a small, but clear voice chimed in from Netto’s PET as small, blue figure appeared on Netto’s shoulder.

Netto’s eye twitched. “No, I’m not,” he denied firmly.

Rockman flew in front of Netto’s face. “You sure are,” he shot back. “Don’t deny it.”

Netto’s eye twitched again, but this time visibly, as he brought his face near to Rockman’s. “No, I’m not,” he repeated, this time his tone was with more force of denial.

Rockman’s fisted hands were on his hips and he sighed. “Well, I can’t knock some sense in you if you’re being  _that_  stubborn,” he said, shaking his head.

Then, Rockman smiled, so soft that Netto thought he saw his mother in Rockman. It instantly made Netto shiver. He didn’t like the smile on Rockman’s face. It didn’t look completely sincere or natural.

“But let me remind you,  _Netto-kun_ , the time when you didn’t organize your summer schedule and you were stuck between going to Stargazing Universe Event with Mama and Papa or do summer homework? And worse, you’re stuck with homework at the last day of summer holiday because you didn’t thought of scheduling and dividing your time properly? Don’t tell me it’s my fault because it wasn’t and when that happens I will say ‘I told you so’ to your face! So organize your plan, Netto-kun!”

“Geez, fine! No need to hit my sore spot, I’ll do it when we get home,” Netto whined in defeat. His Navi at times could be scary if he wanted to be, scarier than his mom.

Rockman grinned, clicking his gloved fingers in satisfaction. “That’s more like it!”

Netto playfully rolled his tongue out at his Navi as did Rockman at his operator.

Meiru and Roll giggled at the interaction.

The brunette huffed and turned to Meiru. “What about you? What’re you doing this summer?”

“Hmm, since I’ve applied for piano competition that’s just three weeks away, I’ve piano lessons to catch up and skills to polish. Umm, my dad’s coming home next week. It’s been a long time, so I’ve to catch up with him and he said something about bringing my mom and me to Amerope for the rest of the vacation. And like you, I’ve summer homework, so I’ve to finish it after the competition.”

“In other words, you’re fully booked. Must be tough. Good luck on that piano competition though.”

“Thanks! Oh, you should come too! I’ll invite you, Mariko-sensei, Shuuko-chan, Tohru-kun and–!”

“Ehh? No w–”

Sensing his life was in near mortal danger, Netto changed his mind when Meiru had her fist raised and she looked ready to burst like an active volcano. Her brown eyes were a killer’s. “On second thought, I would love to be invited,” he squeaked, his response was immediate, hoping it would appease the red head. And  _thank goodness_  it did.

“Oh, that’s fantastic!” the red-haired girl cheered, her palms pressed together in a pleased manner. “I’m especially hoping for you to come and support me, your dear best friend.” She laughed good-heartedly.

“Ha ha...” Netto laughed back weakly. He knew summer was near and that season was especially hot compared to other seasons, but what was up with Meiru-chan and Rockman’s temper today? He scratched his head, trying to figure out something. _Oh well._

Arriving at their respective home destination, Netto greeted Meiru goodbye as the said person waved her goodbye. Entering home, Rockman and Netto greeted Haruka, “ _Mama, we’re home!_ ”

“What’s for dinner? It smells good!” Netto asked.

His mom turned back to her son and his Navi from cooking. She smiled softly. “My, aren’t you especially eager and hungry today?” she asked and responded to his earlier question with a wider smile, “I make your  _favorites_.”

Just from the implication from his mom, Netto knew what she was cooking this evening. “Sweet! I’ll be looking forward to dinner then!” he said, sticking his tongue out onto his upper lip. “I’ll take a bath first!” He sprinted upstairs.

“Don’t forget about making a schedule, Netto-kun!” reminded his Navi.

“Mou, we’ll speak of this after dinner, Rockman!” Netto retorted.

“I’ll call you when dinner’s ready!”

“Okay, Mama!”

“That boy,” Haruka said in amused exasperation as she went back to cooking. “Oh yeah, I’ve forgotten to tell him that Papa’s coming back today.” She hummed. “Oh well.”

-RKNT-

“Netto-kun, I’m going to visit Roll-chan for a short while.”

“Sure! Go ahead, Rockman.”

“Mm, I’ll be back.” Rockman’s hologram dispersed.

Netto entered his room and charged his PET. He unfolded the blue bandana off of his head and placed it beside his PET. Approaching his wardrobe, he randomly picked up any of his night pajamas and walked inside the bathroom.

His bathroom consisted of two rooms. The first room he entered was the entrance room, where there was a sink, a place to set his clothes on and a laundry basket. He took off his clothes and dumped it in the basket, which Haruka dutifully washed it after making dinner. He entered the second room of the bathroom, drew a warm bath and rinsed his body with a washbowl.

Once warm water filled the bathtub, he twisted off the faucet. His foot swung over the edge of the bathtub and into the lukewarm bath as the rest of his body sank in. The warm tranquility had his body loosened up as he sighed in delight, closing his eyes with a blissful smile.

So quiet. Such peaceful disposition. Void of noises, orders and naggings.

“Mmm, speaking of nagging, Rockman will definitely make sure I won’t be able to avoid arranging my schedule. Che, can’t he take a break?” Netto mumbled. He was feeling a tiny bit annoyed. “But I guess I’ve no choice if I want to avoid Mariko-sensei’s wrath and enjoy summer vacation.”

A few more minutes, his skin was flushed. Feeling light-headed, he stepped out of the bathtub and pulled the plug out of the drain. Wobbly, he exited the bathroom. The feeling of the cold air hitting his skin made him shiver. Quickly, he wiped off the remaining liquid on his body with a towel prepared beside his pajamas. Sufficiently dry, he wore his night clothes on and proceeded to the bedroom with a towel resting on his shoulders while drying off his wet hair.

“That felt so good!” Netto said to himself.

“Thirty eight minutes. That sure must’ve felt good if you took a long time inside.”

Netto ignored the comment and glanced at his PET, his Navi was beside it, sitting in crossed legs and arms. “Ah, welcome back, Rockman. And  _that_ took you fast. What were you doing?” asked the brunette, head tilted curiously. Then, he recalled Rockman saying about visiting Roll. He grinned impishly. “Did you go on a date with Roll?” he teased.

Netto’s question was so abrupt that Rockman’s body went rigid as he stood up. “No, I didn’t! Don’t say something that  _isn’t_  true.” The operator flinched at his NetNavi’s tone. Hurt, his heart throbbed. He was  _only_  teasing. Why would that offend the blue Navi so much? Didn’t he and Roll have hots for each other?

Rockman noticed this and his mind went into panicked state, realizing his mistake. “I-I’m sorry for snapping at you, Netto-kun,” he uttered, his voice shaking with unhidden guilt as arms moving frantically before the limbs eventually lowered down. “I didn’t mean it...”

The sides of Netto’s eyes softened. “No.” Rockman looked up. “It’s partially my fault. I’m sorry too, for taunting you,” the brunette said sincerely. He was more than relieved that Rockman wasn’t actually upset with him. But the real question was… “Sooo, will you tell me the reason why you visited Roll?” he started, continuing drying his hair with a towel.

Rockman huffed, crossing his arms. He turned away from Netto. “Mou, you’re stubborn, Netto-kun.”

“…”

Even without looking, Rockman could tell that those brown eyes were boring into his head, a clear-cut sign that his operator won’t give in. He sighed in resignation. “Remember that last two weeks when Roll-chan had paid us an unexpected visit, saying that she needed my assistance?”

Netto nodded. Yeah, he remembered. Roll said it was an emergency and she had asked him if she could borrow Rockman for a day. Netto assumed that Roll pulling “the emergency card” was an excuse to go out on a date with Rockman. Did he assume wrong as well?

Rockman continued, “Apparently, Roll-chan wanted to attend  _that_  Navi’s special cooking lesson and she needed a partner. But she had no one who she could invite. Everyone was busy that day. Luckily for her, I was her only option. Seeing that rejection wasn’t an option, I went with the flow. So, you know Papa and his assistances have successfully developed for us Navis to be able to taste every kind of flavor as a side project?”

“Yeah?”

“That seemingly inspired some hosts to open up a cooking lesson trial and Roll-chan was so into it. I didn’t even know we could even do cooking on Cyberworld until Roll-chan introduced it to me! And not to mention that I’ve never tasted anything so favorable in a dish, Netto-kun! Now I know why you enjoy food so much and that makes me so jealous of you being able to eat Mama’s cooking–” Rockman’s line of conversation had Netto questioned if the NetNavi was on the right track of explaining his short leave.

“Uh, Rockman?” Netto cut off, bringing Rockman to his attention. “I know that being able to taste food is an amazing experience and all for you, but what’s that got to do with your visit to Roll today?”

“Uh, oops, sorry! Hehe, I was distracted.” Rockman scratched the back of his helmet. He coughed into his fist. “Ehm, so continue to where I was… At first, we weren’t aware that cooking competition was also a part of the cooking lesson program. They awarded three winners who cooked the best-flavored cuisine.”

“Reward?” Netto raised an eyebrow. That sounded interesting. “Did you two win?”

Rockman nodded. “Mm! Roll-chan and I won second place, which wasn’t bad considering that it was our first try and we’re awarded with two tickets to a show that’s being held at the day of Tanabata. Roll applied under her name so the tickets are given to her. So, uh...”

Netto kept silence, waiting for the Navi to finish his sentence.

“Because Meiru-chan will be preoccupied for the whole summer vacation, Roll-chan, too, will be busy helping Meiru-chan. She said she can’t go, so she asked me to come over to her place and get the tickets since she left them in Meiru-chan’s PC.” Rockman pixelated into the PET and pulled out the swirling data as proof for Netto to see. Netto assumed that was the tickets in data form.

“Oh, I see. Wait, if Roll can’t go, then who you will invite?” Netto sat down on his bed, still drying his hair off with closed eyes. Warm bath sure made him calm and relaxed.

“W-well, it said here Navis and humans are allowed to participate in the show…” Rockman said, nervous green eyes watching anywhere but Netto. If Netto didn’t tear his eyes away from his Navi, he would’ve seen the blush on Rockman’s cheeks. “Um, that…”

As a reply, the brunette hummed questioningly.

“ _… W-would you like to come with me to the show, Netto-kun?_ ”

Netto’s eyes slightly widened, his hands stopped. His head turned to the blue Navi whose eyes were rather distracted at the empty panels. It took three second of silence to process the Navi’s words. _Is that a blush on Rockman’s face I see?_

Although, he was kind of happy that Rockman invited him. He could’ve invited any of his Navi friends, but he chose Netto instead. The thought made his cheeks slightly rosy.

“N-Netto-kun?” Worry in Rockman’s eyes didn’t suit him.

Netto snapped from his thought, his grin returning. “Rockman, I’m hurt that you think I’ll refuse an invitation from you. Rejecting the opportunity to spend time with you? Not a chance! We’ll add that one to my schedule!”

Rockman’s eyes sparkled, curled fingers on his heart. “Y-you mean it?”

How could he not when his Navi looked so hopeful? His eyes were bright. “You betcha! Although, why were you having a hard time telling me this?”

Instead of facing the boy as Rockman reply, he looked away, forefingers fidgeting against one another nervously. It was faint but there was a dust of pink across Rockman’s cheeks to his ears. “Er, you’ve covered it. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to come with me since you’ve many things to do. But!” He faced Netto with one of the joyful expressions the brunette rarely seen. This one was especially bright. “I’m overjoyed that you would make time for me!”

“Of course I’d make time for you! You’re my dearest friend; I’d do anything for you!” Netto grinned toothily, taking his PET with him. It was customary for Netto to bring Rockman down with him to dinner. “Yosh! Come on, let’s go downstairs. I’m famished!”

“Un, Netto-kun!” Rockman replied enthusiastically.

Netto’s jaw dropped when he was greeted with the sight of delicious-looking homemade dishes; vegetables, meat, fish. Every dish served on the table is Netto’s favorite, but his mom went overboard with how much she cooked today though.

But what astounded him the most was the familiar person sitting across the table full of dishes, laughing with mom.

“Papa!”

“Netto!”

“When did you get here? I thought you wouldn’t come back until next month!”

Yuichiro laughed. “Didn’t Mama tell you that I’m coming home today?”

“No?” Netto, feeling betrayed, shot his mom a disappointed look who laughed sheepishly in return. “Rockman, did you know about Papa coming home today?”

The Navi turned to Netto. “I wasn’t told, but I noticed Mama was cooking meat spaghetti, so I had an assumption that Papa might be home today,” he confessed.

So, he was the only person in this household being left out. Netto huffed.

“I’m sorry that I forgot, Netto-kun. I was about to tell you just as you hurried off upstairs. Then I thought it was better off as a surprise.”

“Mah, I like the surprise though, but even better if we start eating!” Netto declared, showing his enthusiasm derived from starvation.

The Hikari household laughed and started eating. Dinner was short, but pleasant. Everyone was full, the plates were empty. Haruka washed the dirty dishes and Yuichiro went ahead to shower. As for Netto and Rockman, they went back to Netto’s room and started devising the brunette’s schedule.

“So what will it be in the first week?” Rockman started. His holographic form stood in front of the PC. Turning to Netto with a face as innocent as a sheep, he proposed, “Starting with your homework perhaps?” His eager suggestion said otherwise.

Netto groaned at the suggestion. “ _Why!?_ ”

“No?” Rockman crossed his arms, head low in a thinking posture. “Hmm... it’s your choice though, really. In case you didn’t notice, your homework seems to have doubled this time. I don’t think you can finish it on time like last summer if you do it at the last minute. Mariko-sensei will have your head. Even I won’t be able to help you either, with you begging and all.” He shook his head in pity.

 _Lies!_ Netto’s mind hissed. The boy bet that Rockman was doing this on purpose, as in purposely goaded Netto to think that he was tight on time. He was _sure_ of it. But... what if Rockman was right? He wasn’t nagging like usual and that was _strange_!

Unbeknownst to Netto, Rockman was hiding his curled up lips with his gloved fist. He coughed. “What will be the verdict?”

With a resigned sigh, the boy grumbled, “Every night, I will finish half work of each subject starting tomorrow.” He said this as if he was in extreme pain.

Rockman wiped the fake tear from one of his eyes. “Oh, this is wonderful, Netto-kun! This is better than nothing!”

The boy stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Ugh. Stop. I don’t want to hear any more homework from you. As soon as we get this done, I want nothing more than to just lie down on bed.”

“Un, Netto-kun!”

With Rockman helping Netto with his digital agenda, things were done quicker in Netto’s favor.

“We still haven’t filled in something for some of the blank ones. What should we do with them, Netto-kun?”

“Why, just leave the empty ones empty, Rockman! The rest of them don’t need an agenda, I rather have them be a surprise for us!” Netto stated enthusiastically, before flopping into his bed with his arms spread wide, enjoying the softness of the bed’s texture.

Rockman nodded. “If you say so, Netto-kun.”

“Rock, help me save the schedule,” Netto drawled.

“No–”

“Please?” he implored softly, turning to Rockman with his brown eyes pleading like a puppy.

He stopped. “Fine.” Saving the data into the folder, he turned to Netto who was barely awake. “I’m done.”

“Thanks,” the brunette mumbled against the pillow. Brown eyes fluttering, drowsiness consumed his brain, whispering to him to close his eyes and that he did.

Rockman approached the boy. “Netto-kun?” he whispered.

“... Mm’es, ‘ockm’n?” was the lethargic respond from the boy.

Rockman smiled, placing his hand on Netto’s cheek and stroked it fondly. “Nothing, Netto-kun. I’m sorry for today and goodnight, I’ll see you in the morning...” he said, before leaving the sleeping boy with a kiss on the cheek.

The boy didn’t respond. The lights in Netto’s room shut off.

 

 


	2. Hidden Romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rockman’s feeling for his operator was deep and vast like the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! This is Rockman's point of view for the chapter 1. A bit long, but I hope you'll enjoy!

_Rockman’s POV_

It was morning. But it wasn’t time to wake Netto-kun up. Sitting next to him, I looked at my operator who veiled himself in his bedcover from shoulder to toe. He was sleeping very soundly while drooling ever so cutely. I resisted giggling.

I took my time staring at him, slowly raking my eyes over the shape and lines of his face. His brown eyelashes were not as long or thick as Roll-chan, but it suited his boyish feature. I sighed. I might have been able to feel Netto-kun in my arms twice, once at the Duo incident and the other at the Cache incident. However, it was one of my dreams to be able to feel him again – my fingers had longed to physically feel his soft skin, disheveled brown hair, yet I could merely imagine the softness of his hair and his entire being.

A sigh escaped my lips. But that dream was near impossible. I was just a hologram. I slapped both sides of my cheeks hard to get myself some reality check. Okay, time to be a morning rooster!

“Netto-kun, wake up!” was the first call. He wasn’t going to be wide awake with this kind of soft awakening. I gathered all of my breath and yelled, “NETTO-KUN, WAKE UP, YOU LAZYBONES!”

At that call, Netto’s eyes were wide open. I could spot the haziness in his glazy brown eyes. His eyes threatened to close once more.

“No! Netto-kun, you need to wake up!” I called out desperately. If I had a physical body, I would shake him so hard until he was awake. “Or you’re going to be late for school!”

Netto-kun’s response was none other than silence, not a single hum from him. I tried, again and again. My attempts failed. Ugh, if only he didn’t sleep late last night playing games and persuade me to play with him, even successfully convincing me that today was the last day of school and he would wake up early if I yelled at him like usual, I wouldn’t even think of letting him rage on games all night! I wouldn’t let that mistake happen again.

If that was the case now, I didn’t mind getting another minute gazing at Netto-kun’s peaceful sleeping face, as creepy as it was sentenced.

Finally, for more than thirty minutes, Netto-kun woke up with a satisfying stretch of his arms. He glanced at his digital clock and in three, two and one: He screamed in panic as I expected. I counted that there was ten minutes more before he was late for school.

“Why didn’t you wake me up, Rockman!” he said in-between yelling and whining, his movement was in a rush.

I chided, sassy was in my tone. “I did. However, could you blame me after I’ve called out for you to get up for more than the usual waking? And whose fault is it to sleep late yesterday and promise to wake up early if I yelled as loudly as usual?” I knew it was partially my fault to allow myself to be convinced, but I couldn’t help but tease him.

He yelled in frustration. “Argh! I’ve got no time to chit-chat! I’ve gotta hurry!”

“Then, hurry on, Netto-kun!” I said, smiling. Ahh, this type of morning routine was never a bore. My smile dropped. I would love to help him pack his stuff, but I was just a Navi, a hologram. I grimaced at the glaring fact of my physical existence.

“Let’s go, Rockman!” Netto said as he snatched the PET with him.

Oops, I couldn’t show Netto-kun this face I was making. He would be worried for nothing. “Un, Netto-kun!” I said cheerily, but my smile was tight.

Netto arrived to the school late and got lectured by Mariko-sensei. He apologized and Mariko-sensei told him to sit down before class began.

In the middle of the class, Roll-chan sent me a private message. Here stated specifically for me with my name on the recipient section. I opened the message and silently read through the content. She said to come and visit Meiru-chan’s PC after school was over. She had something to hand me.

Curious, I wondered what it was.

Composing a letter for Roll-chan, I opened up a new page. I sent her a message written: _Sure, I’ll come by after Netto-kun is home._

As the rest of the day passed by slowly, I let my thought wonder, wondering about my operator, Netto-kun, and my feelings for him.

Before I met him, Yuichiro-hakase, which I addressed him as Papa now, told me– no, gushed about his son to me, starting when he was an infant. He mentioned his wife too. He told me about how adorable Netto-kun was – determined, always trying to help others, always a smiling child whose happiness was contagious. Papa’s description of his son presented this urging feeling of anticipation in me to meet him as soon as possible, pondering over what kind of a person my future operator was. Was he shy and kind, or was he loud and energetic? Or was it in between?

When I was activated into a foreign system for the first time, there he was. I met him for the first time, sleeping on a bed. Feeling impatient, I wanted to call out for him. Though, I resisted myself from doing that. I recalled Yuichiro-hakase had mentioned that he had school on weekdays, which meant tomorrow was a school day. I waited again. It was only for a few hours. I couldn’t – didn’t want to initiate sleep mode. I wanted him to be the first person, excluding Papa and other scientists, to see me. I was excited and eager to meet him, hear him and interact with him. I was sure he would be too.

When he woke up to my call, his warm brown eyes imprinted to my brain processor. From that, I could tell he was innocent, energetic and incredibly curious. I wasn’t discouraged when he bluntly said that I was weak-looking. I just had to prove myself to him that I was a worthy Navi. When I did prove it, which was worth it, his reaction was priceless. My friendship with Netto-kun grew more and more, everyday. Many times, encountering and overcoming danger together. I saved him and he saved me; we had each other’s backs. Our bonds continued to grow, close like brothers. When he told me I was more than just a Navi, more than just a sentient program, he told me I was his best friend. My heart swelled at the acknowledgement. Netto-kun was the best thing that happened in my life.

But then... things started to get a little complicated. The more I got to know about my operator, the more I accepted these blessed flaws of his, big or small, into something that shaped Netto for who he was. His dislike for cockroaches, his stubbornness, his selfishness, his recklessness, his shenanigans, his love for curry and his mother’s cooking, his bottomless pit of a stomach, his passion for net-battling, his protectiveness over his friends and family, his kindness to both humans and Navis, his compassion, his loud energy, his laughter, his assurance, his bright smile...

When I started to ponder who Netto was to me, I put things together, I realized the feelings I had for him had turned from friendship to love. This realization hit me hard. Both my mind and heart scrambled like cars travelling outside the lines of the crossroads without police or traffic lights to control the convoluted situation when I thought of Netto.

Navis weren’t supposed to have feelings for their operators, not to mention romantic feelings. I thought there was an error in my system. I checked it myself and found no result. I went to Papa and asked him to analyze if there was any foreign glitch in my program. I _didn’t_ dare to tell him that I, a Navi, had fallen in love with his son, so I told him: “I thought there was a glitch in my program and since we didn’t find it, maybe I misread it. It was probably nothing though.” Papa just raised a brow at me, but didn’t say anything else. I knew he wasn’t convinced so I told him that I would come and find him if something like this happened again. My operator didn’t know about my visit to Papa, he would be worried and I would be guilty because I was the cause of his worry.

I tried very hard to suppress this feeling. I tried to keep my expression nonchalant and my heart in complete control. Just as I steeled my resolution, it completely shattered when he did something so simple such as shooting a blinding white smile at me; my cheeks felt hot and my heart skipped a loud beat. Ugh. It was an endless torment because I was with him 24/7. I wanted to yell my frustration out to the Cyberworld, but I didn’t want to risk the chance of being caught by the NetPolice Navis for causing noise disruption.

Eventually, I accepted the fact that I was in love. Though I was discreet about it, which was what I initially thought, so discreet that it wasn’t enough to keep away some snooping Navis from unveiling the truth, such as Blues and Roll-chan.

Blues had suspected it and personally confronted me about it, in the absence of our operators. Out of all Navis and humans, I thought he was the most intolerant about this abnormal behavior of a Navi. He was strangely accepting about my feelings for Netto-kun, commenting that my operator was a very likable person and I looked more happy and expressive whenever I was with him than with anyone. I was honestly surprised that he was perceptive about it. I asked him what gave me away and he told me that my recent behavior had him piqued both his suspicion and interest and… to my utter horror and embarrassment; he started a solo investigation on me. He noted and analyzed every interaction I had with anyone and did a compare-and-match to every research with other researches – only to dig up my biggest secret.

Then, there was Roll-chan. She was the second Navi to uncover my secret a few months ago after Blues. If not for her infatuation with me that had blinded her viewpoint and intuition, she could very well be the first person to discover it. A few weeks after the Cache incident was over, she randomly asked me out on a date and I froze.

My past self wouldn’t mind, but now that I had strong feelings for someone special, I didn’t know how to respond to her. She immediately noticed something was off and asked me if there was something wrong. It was now or never, I thought back then. I mustered up courage and told her that I had feelings for someone else. I was afraid she would burst up crying or worse wouldn’t even want to hang out anymore. Her reaction was unexpectedly calm that it made me slightly daunted, even more so when she was silent. Until she spoke up, the tension was released.

What she said gave me a heart attack: “It’s Netto, isn’t it? He’s the only person I can think of. Tell me if I’m wrong.” My response for her was a nod. Afterwards, she told me that the bond between my operator and mine was a special one, unlike anything she had seen from a Navi and an operator’s relationship. She said she had seen me acting strangely around Netto-kun, like blushing red whenever said interest praised me, sometimes grinning a bit too widely, trying to be cool but failed entirely, unconsciously playing with my fingers and the list went on and on. Had I been so open with my emotion? I thought I had it all covered!

Nevertheless, I had never felt so relieved and grateful in my whole existence. Two of important people in my life didn’t mind my preference and encouraged me to go for it.

“–ckman.”

Oh, yikes. Netto-kun called me. It seemed that I ruminated too much on the past it became a distraction that even he noticed it.

“W-what is it, Netto-kun?” _Why am I stuttering!?_

“Are you okay, Rockman? You spaced out.” Netto’s chocolate brown eyes shimmered in worry.

Too distracted, apparently.

“Yep. I’m good, Netto-kun. No need to worry about me. I was just thinking about you. I-I _mean_ about what you’ll do for your summer vacation, since Mariko-sensei had mentioned about it earlier.” Smooth, Rockman, smooth.

Netto-kun grinned at the mention of vacation, if he had a dog’s ears, it would perk up. _You’re so cute, Netto-kun._ “Ahh, well, once we get home, I’ll think about it.” _Think about me._ Darn it. _My mind, please, stop. You’re out of control._

Hm? I received another private message from Roll-chan. I read.

_Rockman, turn around._

_-Roll._

I turned to Roll’s holographic form. She was waving at me and mouthed: Rockman, you sly dog. I heard it.

I blushed, avoiding her eyes in embarrassment.

I heard her giggle.

Shaking, my gloved hands curled around to suppress my emotion.

I received another message.

_You better keep your emotion under control. It’s starting to show out pretty clearly._

_-Roll._

Frustrated, I finally sent her one.

_Andwhosefaultdoyouthinkwasthat!?-Rockman._

Roll-chan’s eyes squinted, trying to read my rushed message. She grinned and sent me another message.

Totally.

_Your._

_Own._

_Fault~_

_-Roll._

I internally screamed and deflated. She had become a constant reminder of my suffering and pinning for Netto-kun ever since that secret was out on day one. My hologram disappeared from sight. Having enough of teasing me, Roll-chan _thankfully_ stopped her antics.

School was finally over and summer awaited them. Netto-kun was in a joyful mood that it was finally over. But not before Mariko-sensei ruined it for them by handing them out an exaggerated amount of summer homework. No kidding. Netto-kun wouldn’t be able to finish everything if he did it on the last week of his vacation. I had to convince him somehow to start his homework early.

It was time to go home. Meiru-chan and Roll-chan joined us to our way home.

Meiru-chan started the conversation between them. “So,” she said. There was a stop on her sentence. “What’s your plan for the whole summer break, Netto?”

I couldn’t see from this angle, but I could tell by Netto-kun’s humming. When walking while humming, he had a habit of crossing his arms behind his head and looked up when he was thinking. “I dunno. I’ve a lot of plans in my hands for the summer but I haven’t organized them yet,” he said excitedly. “But I know even if I didn’t, it’ll still be exciting!”

It sure would be interesting. Wait. He couldn’t do that.

“Mou, Netto-kun. That’s irresponsible of you,” I chided, appearing on Netto-kun’s shoulder.

My operator’s eye twitched. “No, I’m not.” Ah, he was irritated. Trying to avoid from the truth, huh?

Soaring, I faced him directly. “You sure are,” I shot back. “Don’t deny it.”

I saw his eye twitched again, as he brought his face near to mine. I gulped at the close proximity of our faces, trying to ignore the fact that I was feeling hot.

_Roll-chan must have the time of her life. God, why are you doing this to me?_

“No, I’m not.”

_He’s stubborn I’ll give him that._

_Have composure_ , I told myself. It was time to put my plans into action. I put my fists on my hips and sighed. “Well, I can’t knock some sense in you if you’re being  _that_  stubborn,” I said, shaking his head.

I knew Netto-kun’s line of thinking. He thought I wasn’t going to pursue the matter as soon as I said this. But I proved him wrong. My lips curled up into a smile, but it wasn’t my carefree smile I usually gave to my friends or Netto-kun. I saw him quiver.

I began my lecture, “But let me remind you,  _Netto-kun_ , the time when you didn’t organize your summer schedule and you were stuck between going to Stargazing Universe Event with Mama and Papa or do summer homework? And worse, you’re stuck with homework at the last day of summer holiday because you didn’t thought of scheduling and dividing your time properly? Don’t tell me it’s my fault because it wasn’t and when that happens I will say ‘I told you so’ to your face! So organize your plan, Netto-kun!”

“Geez, fine! No need to hit my sore spot, I’ll do it when we get home,” he whined.

I grinned, clicking my fingers in satisfaction. “That’s more like it!”

Success!

As a counter attack, my operator rolled his tongue out at me to which I did back at him.

Roll-chan and her operator giggled.

Netto-kun huffed and turned to his childhood friend. “What about you? What’re you doing this summer?”

“Hmm, since I’ve applied for piano competition that’s just three weeks away, I’ve piano lessons to catch up and skills to polish. Umm, my dad’s coming home next week. It’s been a long time, so I’ve to catch up with him and he said something about bringing my mom and me to Amerope for the rest of the vacation. And like you, I’ve summer homework, so I’ve to finish it after the competition.”

Yikes, Roll-chan’s operator had her schedule packed.

“In other words, you’re fully booked. Must be tough. Good luck on that piano competition though.”

“Thanks! Oh, you should come too! I’ll invite you, Mariko-sensei, Shuuko-chan, Tohru-kun and–!”

“Ehh? No w–”

Netto-kun’s expression changed from annoyance to fear in an instant when Meiru-chan looked ready to kill. Ha ha… She certainly knew how to make Netto-kun do things her way. I wished I had half of the things she had on Netto-kun.

“On second thought, I would love to be invited.” I had only seen Netto-kun fear and submit to two people in his life, and that was Meiru-chan and Mama.

“Oh, that’s fantastic!” Meiru-chan’s palms pressed together. It looked like she was delighted. “I’m especially hoping for you to come and support me, your dear best friend.” She laughed in a manner of satisfaction.

“Ha ha...” However, Netto-kun’s laughter was the opposite of Meiru-chan’s, his was strained. I guessed he was terrified of what Meiru-chan would do to him if he had refused her.

As both operators bid each other goodbye, we finally reached home!

“ _Mama, we’re home!_ ” Netto and I greeted the housewife who was currently cooking dinner. I wished I knew how it smelt. I bet it would be a heavenly smell.

“What’s for dinner? It smells good!” he asked.

Mama turned to us and smiled. She said to Netto, “My, aren’t you especially eager and hungry today?” Indeed Netto-kun was, Mama. Look at your son drooling.

Mama even had a wider smile on her face as if she knew how her son would react. “I make your  _favorites_.”

“Sweet! I’ll be looking forward to dinner then!” Netto-kun had his tongue stuck out onto his upper lip. I looked away when I noticed I was staring. “I’ll take a bath first!” He sprinted upstairs.

“Don’t forget about making a schedule, Netto-kun!”

“Mou, we’ll speak of this after dinner, Rockman!”

“I’ll call you when dinner’s ready!”

“Okay, Mama!”

Hmm, I noticed there was a pot of boiled spaghetti and cooked meat on a pan. Was Mama cooking meat spaghetti? If she was, there was one person here in this household who wholeheartedly adored Mama’s meat spaghetti. _Is he coming home?_

Since Netto-kun was taking a bath… Oh yeah, Roll-chan told me to come to Meiru-chan’s PC so that she could hand me something.

I had to announce my leave first. “Netto-kun, I’m going to visit Roll-chan for a short while.”

“Sure! Go ahead, Rockman.”

“Mm, I’ll be back.” My hologram dispersed as I pixelated from the PET’s screen and crossed toward the Cyberworld.

Memorizing the path to Roll-chan’s operator’s PC, my journey ended quickly. I used the portal to access the computer’s system. I saw a familiar pink figure and immediately knew it was Roll-chan.

“Roll-chan!”

She turned to me. “Oh, Rockman! You’re finally here!”

“Yeah, so, what did you want to hand me?”

“These.” She held out some kind of swirling data to me.

“What are these?” I took it from her, despite not knowing what it was.

“Those are the prize from that cooking lesson program I dragged you with me. Consider it as my thanks for tagging along until the end of the program.”

I was forced to go along. You gave me no choice. “Oh, the one that was two weeks ago?”

Roll nodded.

“Wait. These kinds of lessons give you prizes?” I asked, surprised.

She shook her head. “Not really. But the one we were attending apparently included cooking competition program, which they had forgotten to put it on the ad. I just received those yesterday from the same cooking host. She said we won the second place out of the three ranks.”

I raised a brow. That was impressive for our first try. “Oh, I see. But why are you giving these away to me?”

“Didn’t you listen to Meiru-chan back on our way home? If she’s that busy, I can’t go. But you, on the other hand…” Roll-chan’s face turned mischievous. I didn’t feel comfortable with that expression on her feature. “…could ask _Netto out to a date_ with the tickets I’ve given you!”

I blushed; panic was clear in my entire body language. “Shh, shh!  Roll-chan, have you had no filter? You’re too loud!” I hushed her, a finger to my lips.

“Hmm, perhaps it’s in my system that I want to be temporarily out of filter just for the sake of teasing you?” Roll-chan’s forefinger touched her chin as she looked away from me purposely.

For the sake of– Oh, for goodness’ sake!

“I’m just pulling your leg, Rockman. Come on. Please don’t look at me like that.”

She poked one of my cheeks.

“But I’m serious about what I said, Rockman.”

I frowned. “But–”

“No _buts_ ,” she said sternly, leaning forward over me with hands on her hips. “Report it to me now.”

“Uhm, what?” I was honestly confused now.

“Tell me how many times you’ve wooed your operator and succeed,” she stated bluntly.

I squeaked, “ _Wooed!?_ What the–”

“How many times?”

“Um…”

“How many times?” she repeated.

_T-the pressure._

“N-none.”

“Why’s that?” She was getting intimidating as she got closer to my personal space.

“ _I don’t know!_ ” I exclaimed, shutting my eyes and clamping my fingers into gloved palms. One of the most frustrating things was to not know.

She was taken aback, probably had never seen me this agitated. “What do you mean you don’t know?” she asked softly.

I looked away, playing with my fingers. “I’ve tried wooing him more than I could count being teased by you. All the things I do… I don’t think Netto-kun gets it.” Maybe this body was too small. Maybe it was just a hologram. Maybe he wanted someone who had a solid body. If all of these were to narrow down into one case of solid inadequacy, then it wasn’t enough to meet all the standards for wooing a dense skull such as my operator.

“In that case, ask him out to a date,” she said in a matter of fact tone. “You haven’t tried that yet, am I right?”

I nodded hesitantly, considering the option.

“Those tickets allow the participation of both Navis and humans,” she continued.

“Considering your past efforts, subtle courting doesn’t work on his 13-year-old brain. So the best and effective option for you is to take action,” she advised.

I completely agreed with Roll-chan. Action did speak louder than words.

I looked at the hovering data my palms held out, filling me with hope. A date with my operator. Just the two of us. Why didn’t I think of that?

“Stop that.”

“What?”

Her eyes scrunched. “Your face shows what you’re thinking and your expression tells a lot. Stop that.”

Rubbing the back of my helmet, I laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Now go back to Netto. I’ve things to do.” Turning away from my visual perception, her hand gestured back at me in a shooing motion.

I smiled. “Okay. Thank you, Roll-chan,” I said, truly grateful.

“Yeah, you’re welcome.”

Unbeknownst to me, the pink Navi smiled bitterly.

“Good luck, Rockman.”

 

Not long, I was back in my PET.

I materialized my hologram to the real world. Humming, I scanned the surrounding of my operator’s room. I heard water running in a bathtub at a distant. There was a slosh of water hitting against some object, which I assumed his body, and onto the ground in a loud splatter. It seemed he hadn’t gone in the bathtub yet.

Listening carefully, there was some kind of squeaking noises. I assumed he was handling the bathtub’s tap and stopped it from overflowing. Then, something slowly descended into the filled bathtub, following a sensual sigh.

My face immediately turned red. I clutched my head. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop thinking about it, Rockman. Bad, _bad thought!_

“Mmm, speaking of nagging, Rockman will definitely make sure I won’t be able to avoid arranging my schedule. Che, can’t he take a break?”

I pouted, crossing my arms. _I heard that, Netto-kun! And no, I won’t take a break until I make sure you’ve done your schedule._

“But I guess I’ve no choice if I want to avoid Mariko-sensei’s wrath and enjoy summer vacation.”

I nodded, agreeing to his next sentence.

…

It would take some time for Netto-kun to step up from the bathtub. What to do… what to do…

In the meanwhile, seeing as I had nothing to do as of yet, I sat down in crossed legs. I was formulating sentences on how to ask Netto-kun out to a date with me.

_Netto-kun, I have two tickets to a show. Go out with me._

Nope. That was kind of demanding. I didn’t think I could do it in a straight face.

_Netto-kun, I’ve gotten these tickets from an unknown source to a show! Why don’t we go together and see what kind of performance they’re putting? Are you in?_

Hmm… it didn’t sound like I was asking him out. Not to mention that it sounded rather suspicious to anyone who heard it. Unknown source, my butt. Netto-kun would instantly know that it was from Roll-chan since I did clearly announce to him where I was going.

_Netto-kun, are you interested to seeing a show? Because I’ve two tickets, we could go, if you want to._

What if he rejected me? He wouldn’t, would he? I frowned and sighed. Thinking, being unsure like this wouldn’t do, I guessed I had to be as natural as possible when asking him out. I could only hope that worked well later.

I couldn’t go this far without the support of good friends. Blues and Roll-chan were admirably supportive friends. _I’m so lucky to have them as my friends._

My lips curled up. At a distance, loud splashes were heard. _I think Netto-kun is done with bath._

Footsteps were approaching near. The door opened and revealed my operator who was drying his hair off with a relaxed expression.

“That felt so good!”

I didn’t think Netto-kun was aware that I was back so I announced my presence, “Thirty eight minutes. That sure must’ve felt good if you took a long time inside.”

Laying his eyes on mine, he greeted me, “Ah, welcome back, Rockman. And  _that_ took you fast. What were you doing?” His head tilted in curiosity. I felt unnerved when he suddenly grinned at me impishly. “Did you go on a date with Roll?”

My whole body tensed. W-why would he think that Roll-chan and I went on a date?

I rose from my position and denied harshly, not minding my tone, “No, I didn’t! Don’t say something that  _isn’t_  true.” When he flinched, I paled and couldn’t hide my panic. Stones of guilt dropped mercilessly into my guts when I saw flash of pain in his brown eyes.

_I h-have to apologize._

“I-I’m sorry for snapping at you, Netto-kun,” I uttered, my voice shaking with unhidden guilt as arms moving frantically before my limbs eventually lowered down. “I didn’t mean it...” No, no, no... This wasn’t supposed to happen! I didn’t mean to hurt him... I _wouldn’t_ do that to him.

“No.” When he spoke up, I looked at him. His brown eyes were kind; it held forgiveness I didn’t deserve. “It’s partially my fault. I’m sorry too, for taunting you,” he said sincerely.

When I wanted to apologize once more, he cut me off, “Sooo, will you tell me the reason why you visited Roll-chan?” He continued drying his hair with a towel.

I recalled Roll-chan’s words: _Ask him out to a date._

Nervous, I gulped reflexively. I huffed with my arms crossed to feign annoyance as I looked away from him. “Mou, you’re stubborn, Netto-kun.”

 “…”

I knew my operator very well. Recently, he developed a habit that added to his stubborn streak. When he didn’t speak or make a sound, he was staring at the person until they gave in and provided him the answer he wanted from them. I sighed in resignation. “Remember that last two weeks when Roll-chan had paid us an unexpected visit, saying that she needed my assistance?”

Wait. That wasn’t right. Why was I explaining this if I could ask him out for a date? I mentally slapped my forehead. _Oh, darn it. I’ll just go with the flow._

Seeing as my operator nodded, I continued, “Apparently, Roll-chan wanted to attend  _that_  Navi’s special cooking lesson and she needed a partner. But she had no one who she could invite. Everyone was busy that day. Luckily for her, I was her only option. Seeing that rejection wasn’t an option, I went with the flow. So, you know Papa and his assistances have successfully developed for us Navis to be able to taste every kind of flavor as a side project?”

“Yeah?”

“That seemingly inspired some hosts to open up a cooking lesson trial and Roll-chan was so into it. I didn’t even know we could even do cooking on Cyberworld until Roll-chan introduced it to me! And not to mention that I’ve never tasted anything so favorable in a dish, Netto-kun! Now I know why you enjoy food so much and that makes me so jealous of you being able to eat Mama’s cooking–”

“Uh, Rockman?” I looked at him as he continued, “I know that being able to taste food is an amazing experience and all for you, but what’s that got to do with your visit to Roll today?”

“Uh, oops, sorry! Hehe, I was distracted.” I scratched the back of his helmet. The ability of being able to taste food was a new and amazing experience for me and everyone in the Cyberworld. And if I could eat together with Netto-kun, Papa and Mama, how great would that be? I coughed into my fist. “Ehm, so continue to where I was… At first, we weren’t aware that cooking competition was also a part of the cooking lesson program. They awarded three winners who cooked the best-flavored cuisine.”

“Reward?” He raised an eyebrow in interest. “Did you two win?”

I nodded. “Mm! Roll-chan and I won second place, which wasn’t bad considering that it was our first try and we’re awarded with two tickets to a show that’s being held at the day of Tanabata. Roll applied under her name so the tickets are given to her. So, uh...”

Netto-kun wasn’t speaking. He was letting me finish.

“Because Meiru-chan will be preoccupied for the whole summer vacation, Roll-chan, too, will be busy helping Meiru-chan. She said she can’t go, so she asked me to come over to her place and get the tickets since she left them in Meiru-chan’s PC.” I pixelated into the PET and pulled out the swirling data as proof for him to see.

“Oh, I see. Wait, if Roll can’t go, then who you will invite?” he said, sitting down on the bed while drying his hair with his eyes closed.

_Seize this chance!_

This was the moment I had been waiting for.

“W-well, it said here Navis and humans are allowed to participate in the show…” I started nervously, my eyes watching anywhere but him. My cheeks and ears felt warm. “Um, that…” I hesitated but his hum encouraged me to speak up.

I breathed in. “ _… W-would you like to come with me to the show, Netto-kun?_ ” I declared and looked away from him, dreading for the rejection coming from his mouth. The blush across my cheeks hadn’t mellowed down.

When he hadn’t said anything, I began to worry. I turned to him who was looking at me with stunned look. “N-Netto-kun?”

He blinked and offered me the widest grin I had only seen it when he was filled with complete jubilation. _Does this mean...?_ “Rockman, I’m hurt that you think I’ll refuse an invitation from you. Rejecting the opportunity to spend time with you? Not a chance! We’ll add that one to my schedule!”

Swelling with happiness, I curled my fingers near my heart; a reflexive action when I was filled with hope.

“Y-you mean it?”

“You betcha! Although, why were you having a hard time telling me this?”

Right... Even though Netto-kun accepted to go out with me, he wasn’t aware that I was asking him out for a date. The message wasn’t completely reached, but it was just the two of us. So it was better than no progress. Cowardly, instead of telling the truth of my deepest desire, I looked away from him, unconsciously playing with my forefingers. “Er, you’ve covered it. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to come with me since you’ve many things you want to do. But!” I faced my operator, grinning widely. “I’m overjoyed that you would make time for me!”

Gosh, that sounded like a confession.

“Of course I’d make time for you! You’re my dearest friend; I’d anything for you!” he replied with a smile that didn’t waver as he took the PET with him. “Yosh! Come on, let’s go downstairs. I’m famished!”

“Un, Netto-kun!” I wished I could be more than just a friend for you, Netto-kun...

As we went down downstairs, we were greeted with an overwhelming amount of food. But someone captured my attention. The unmistakable figure of the scientist was here. Papa was home talking with Mama. It was as I expected.

My operator gasped. “Papa!”

“Netto!”

“When did you get here? I thought you wouldn’t come back until next month!”

Papa laughed. “Didn’t Mama tell you that I’m coming home today?”

“No?” Netto-kun shot Mama a betrayed look who laughed sheepishly in return. “Rockman, did you know about Papa coming home today?”

I turned to Netto-kun, sending him a look of silent apology. “I wasn’t told, but I noticed Mama was cooking meat spaghetti, so I had an assumption that Papa might be home today.”

His cheeks puffed out, looking upset. I chuckled to myself. _Cute._

“I’m sorry that I forgot, Netto-kun. I was about to tell you just as you hurried off upstairs. Then I thought it was better off as a surprise.”

“Mah, I like the surprise though, but even better if we start eating!”

Laughter, including mine, echoed around the Hikari household. It was so Netto-kun’s answer. When he was hungry, his stomach was his first priority. Dinner started, I watched everyone started feasting. I was lucky Navis weren’t designed to eat, but the visual sight of Mama’s food certainly reacted something in my stomach akin to hunger. After the plates were empty, Mama took care of the dirty plates and utensils, Papa went to shower and Netto-kun and I would start organizing his schedule, much to his displeasure.

“So what will it be in the first week?” I began. My holographic form stood in front of the PC. Feigning innocence, I turned to Netto-kun and suggested, “Starting with your homework perhaps?” I couldn’t keep the eagerness to myself.

“ _Why!?_ ” he groaned.

“No?” I crossed my arms, head low in a thinking posture. “Hmm... it’s your choice though, really. In case you didn’t notice, your homework seems to have doubled this time. I don’t think you can finish it on time like last summer if you do it at the last minute. Mariko-sensei will have your head. Even I won’t be able to help you either, with you begging and all.” To make my act believable, I shook my head in pity and shot him my best worried face. I had to bait him using this method, if not for that, that homework wouldn’t go anywhere. _Forgive me, Netto-kun. I’m doing this for your own benefit._

_…_

_Hngh, eyes closed in concentration, nose scrunched, lips pouted; his thinking face’s quite adorable._ I closed my amused smile with gloved fist. _He’s so gullible. S_ etting the thought aside, I coughed. “What will be the verdict?”

With a resigned sigh, he grumbled, “Every night, I will finish half work of each subject starting tomorrow.”

This was a blessing from above! I was so proud and as a demonstration I wiped the fake tear from one of my eyes. “Oh, this is wonderful, Netto-kun! This is better than nothing!”

He stuck his tongue out. “Ugh. Stop. I don’t want to hear any more homework from you. As soon as we get this done, I want nothing more than to just lie down on bed.”

“Un, Netto-kun!” I agreed, more than happy to start with the schedule as soon as possible.

There were plenty of things Netto-kun wanted to do and try, and I was happy to suggest ranges of activities that were healthy and engaging for his mind and body. Though, some parts of the activities involved net-battling. By the time the digital clock’s hour hand struck ten, we were almost done with arranging Netto-kun’s agenda.

“We still haven’t filled in something for some of the blank ones. What should we do with them, Netto-kun?”

“Why, just leave the empty ones empty, Rockman! The rest of them don’t need an agenda, I rather have them be a surprise for us!” He dived into the bed with his arms spread wide.

 _Who knows Netto-kun will work on his homework during those blank days. Nah, that’ll never happen in a million years._ I nodded. “If you say so, Netto-kun.”

“Rock, help me save the schedule,” he drawled.

That lazy. “No–”

He rotated to my direction. “Please?” The dangerous combination of his soft voice imploring and pitiable face of a helpless puppy tugging my heart made my throat constrict; my resolution waver and weak.

“Fine.”

I thought begrudgingly, _just this once I’ll indulge you, Netto-kun_. Saving the data into the folder, I faced my barely awake operator. “I’m done.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled against the pillow. His body lacked movement; his breathing even, chestnut eyes fluttered close, then open and close again.

I approached him with a whisper. “Netto-kun?”

“... Mm’es, ‘ockm’n?”

I should let him rest. Smiling softly, I placed my holographic palm on his soft cheek and stroked it fondly. “Nothing, Netto-kun. I’m sorry for today and goodnight, I’ll see you in the morning...”

I dropped a kiss on his cheek and shut the lights of Netto-kun’s room off.


	3. Ghost of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dream was just a dream. They weren’t real. But why did it felt so real and sad? Netto woke up cranky. After he had breakfast, Rockman suggested that they went to the amusement park – a choice that Netto regretted having to agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a date. Definitely a date.

It was dark.

Darkness – everywhere was the void of nothingness.

His vision was engulfed by darkness. He touched his own face, neck, arms, body and, legs. He could feel them, but he couldn’t see them. Fear terrorized his mind. He became panicked.

He tried to scream; he tried to call out for his Navi, for Rockman, but he had no voice to summon for help.

He was all alone in this darkness.

He wanted to close his eyes and pray that this was all a dream. But he didn’t dare to, because if he did, he would no longer be able to tell the differences between opening and closing his eyes. Worse, he couldn’t run; his legs felt heavy as if something had a tight grip on both limbs.

He was trapped.

_Please!_

_Anybody?_

_Can you hear me?_

His voiceless mouth pleaded.

As if a miracle granted him sight, a tiny white light slowly ate the darkness around him. As it got larger, the light blinded his eyes but it relieved him.

He could finally see his hands.

_Netto-kun…_

A familiar voice calling out his name made him looked up straight, his eyes wide.

_Rockman?_

He tried to call back, but to no avail, his voice wasn’t back with him.

At a distance, a figure emerged from the light. It exposed the appearance of a boy whose age was the same as his. Somehow, he had a strange feeling that he recognized the boy from somewhere.

Eyes opened and revealed brown eyes, a warm color that was identical like his.

Those brown eyes met his own.

He inched toward him, expression unreadable. When the boy stopped in front of him, he stared at Netto before smiling serenely. Even his voice was serene as he addressed him, “Netto-kun.”

Forgetting that he was currently voiceless, Netto answered back with a question that demanded the identity of the person in front of him. The boy’s next move startled him: His arms wrapped around Netto and dug his face deep into the crook of his neck.

“Netto-kun…”

Netto’s eyes shifted to the boy. Although his action confused him, Netto couldn’t help but felt that the boy was in sorrow. Strangely, the urge to hug him back came naturally to him. The boy’s arms around him tightened.

In a little while, as Netto felt the absence of the warmth, the boy took his hand with a smile and gestured to a direction.

Netto wanted to leave this place, but he couldn’t move his legs even if he struggled. But he tried anyway. To his surprise, his legs no longer felt like they were chained down. He felt lighter and better. He was able to move again.

He felt the hand that gripped around his tightened. He looked at the boy who insistently gestured at the same direction.

Netto raised a brow. He wanted him to go there with him? Sure.

A voice stopped him from taking a step further, making him turn to the awfully familiar worried voice.

“Netto-kun!”

_Rockman!_

Netto was ready to jump into Rockman’s side, but the grip around his hand didn’t let go. In fact, it tightened firmly. He winced at the slight pain.

“Let go of Netto-kun’s hand!” Rockman demanded, his Rock Buster aiming threateningly at the boy.

The boy’s eyes darkened and frowned. “No, I won’t,” he rejected sharply, turning to Netto and pleaded with his eyes. “Netto-kun, come with me. I promise you’ll be happy with me.”

_But I don’t know you._

“You will, once you come with me. Everything, everyone you know will be there. You don’t need to worry about a single thing, Netto-kun,” the boy insisted in a gentle, reassuring tone so similar like Rockman’s.

“Don’t do it, Netto-kun! It’s a trap,” Rockman begged. “Please, you’ve to get away from him!”

The other’s mouth was close to his ears. “Come with me. I’ll give you everything, Netto-kun. Anything you ask will be yours,” the boy whispered the words with nothing but sweet promises, and it swayed Netto’s every desire of his greediness.

“Netto-kun, please!”

“ _… W-would you like to come with me to the show, Netto-kun?_ ”

Netto slammed his eyes shut, legs drawing back, tugging away futilely from the boy’s iron hold. “No!” Not realizing his vocal cord was now working, he cast a glare to the boy. “I’ve made a promise to Rockman that I’ll go to the show with him. I’m not going to break my promise to anyone.”

The boy’s smile dropped. He didn’t slacken his grip on Netto, bringing the latter’s hand close to his lips and pressed the back of his palm instead. The strange gesture made Netto confused and flustered at the same time. “Alright, it’s your decision and I’ll respect it. But if you ever change your mind, I’ll be here, waiting for you,” he said with a crestfallen smile as he let his hand free.

The boy disappeared; his figure disintegrated into dust and ashes to a direction where non-existential wind carried the particles away.

_My name is Saito and I’ll be waiting for you._

_When you’re ready, I’ll take you with me._

Eyes snapped open in the dark. Hands clutching to where his heart was at; it was drumming loudly. He assessed his surroundings, head turning from left to right three times. He was in his room, on his bed, covered in a blanket.

_Was it all a dream?_

He sighed, sitting up straight as he massaged his temple. The question was: Who was that strange boy? He told him his name was Saito, wasn’t it...? Why did he appear in his dream? He had never seen the boy in his life – wait. Maybe he had. He tried to recall the boy’s distinctive feature. He looked like, like… no, he couldn’t remember anything detailed about the boy’s face except for his calming yet sad voice. And somehow... he could imagine the boy looked so dejected whenever he smiled. His heart unknowingly throbbed in a pain similar to heartbreak at the mention of it. _Odd._

It was 3:35 a.m. He should go back to sleep. It was too early to wake up at this time anyway.

-RKNT-

At exactly 6:00 a.m. sharp, Rockman was about to wake the sunshine out of Netto as soon as he addressed him. It surprised the heck out of the Navi when Netto replied back with such instant. His operator waking up that early was a once in a blue moon occasion. However, Rockman pursued positivity in Netto’s action of waking up early and didn’t think it was strange.

Truthfully, the boy couldn’t go back to sleep after waking up from that dream. It bothered him to the extent that he still had a perfect recollection of the conversation in that dream. It replayed back over and over in his mind. Why had that disturbed him so much? It was just a dream, after all. It wasn’t significant at all.

Currently, Netto bit the sunny-side-up egg on toast and chewed robotically; his eyes didn’t have its usual spry and mind was somewhere else. He swallowed and took another bite before drinking a glass of warm milk.

Netto might not have noticed it, but his parents and Rockman knew the youngest Hikari was usually chatty and energetic when he was having breakfast. Right now, he was eating painfully slow. In other words, the lack of energy, unusual silence and slow-paced eating from Netto struck Rockman and his parents as odd as they shared worried glances with one another before one of them, particularly Rockman, spoke up, “Netto-kun.”

Hearing his name, Netto turned to the voice and noticed the concerned look adorned on his Navi’s face. He tilted his head and asked, “What is it, Rockman?”

The blue Navi hesitated, “You’re awfully silent. Is something on your mind, Netto-kun?”

Deeming that dream as private, and embarrassed at the thought of his parents and Navi teasing him for having such a strange dream, Netto swallowed and lied, “Not particularly. Why?”

The Navi was about to reply back but when Netto stifled a yawn, Rockman’s green eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you sleep early yesterday?” he asked suspiciously.

“Duh,” Netto said sassily. His eyes closed as he chewed off another piece of his toast. “You know I sure did.”

“Then what was that just now?” Rockman accused, pointing at Netto’s lips.

“What was what?” Netto asked, acting dumb.

“Don’t pretend. That. You were yawning– _Aha!_ See, you’re doing it again! Geez, Netto-kun, did you really sleep early?”

He scowled and was starting to get irritated. “Lay off, will you? I said I did. It was just a dream that woke me up in the middle of sleep and I couldn’t go back to sleep even if I wanted to.” He mentally cursed. He was trying to hide that.

Netto claimed it was a dream, but Rockman interpreted it differently. “You had a nightmare?” he inquired worryingly, his mother-hen mode switched on.

“Not really a nightmare,” the brunette grumbled his refutation. He wasn’t in the best state of mind. Since he couldn’t help but waste his own time replaying the dream in the back of his mind, he hadn’t gotten enough dose of sleep. “It’s just a very strange dream. Don’t worry about it.”

Rockman crossed his arms in disapproval and gave Netto a searching gaze. Of course he would be worried about the boy. He was the boy’s Navi after all. Under his constant watch, he made sure Netto was in optimal condition in any form of wellness at all times. Sometimes, no, _most of the time_ , Netto was too stubborn for his own good. The Navi preferred it more if the boy was totally open with his thought and tell him what was bothering him rather than keeping it to himself. It would be simpler that way so that he could at least be helpful in this kind of situation. Maybe he should consider starting a sleep study on his operator – starting from tonight. Yes, he should conduct it tonight.

-RKNT-

After having breakfast, Netto felt a tad better. He bid his parents goodbye and told them that he would go out for a while.

“So where are we heading for today?” Rockman asked.

“No slightest idea.”

“What about–”

“Don’t you even suggest going back home and telling me to start with my homework,” Netto deadpanned.

The Navi laughed at the unexpected comment from his operator. “I’m not that cruel. You’ve given me your words that you’ll do them every night.”

“Fine.” He paused then plopped his fist onto his palm. “Tell you what. Today we’ll do a reverse role – you do what _you_ want for fun and I’ll tag along. How’s that, Rockman?”

The Navi’s lower jaw dropped, speechless. “Really? Are you sure?” Netto nodded – the confirmation was enough to convince Rockman that his operator wasn’t jesting with him. The Navi had never been given this opportunity since it was either never mentioned or thought by both individuals. Doing what he wanted for the whole day was unimaginable. Honestly, he had no idea what to do as entertainment since he prioritized his operator’s needs rather than thinking about his own, except when it involved his operator begging on his knees for him to finish his homework – that was a no-no.

Rockman hummed with his head tilted to the side and arms crossed. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Being with you is enough.”

Netto complained, “Come on! I don’t believe you don’t have things you really, _really_ , want to do! There has to be something!”

‘There is one thing, though,’ thought the Navi as he unconsciously swept his tongue over his lips. ‘Does kissing you senselessly count?’ He mentally slapped himself for the indecent thought. Wait. He did have somewhere he wanted to go. “W-well, there’s one place I’ve wanted to visit since its improvisation.”

Netto nodded encouragingly, smiling widely. “Where?”

“To the amusement park!”

He tilted his head at the suggestion. “I thought we’re doing what you want, right?”

“Yes, we _are_ doing what _I_ want,” Rockman said.

“Why the amusement park though?” asked Netto, honestly puzzled.

“So that we could experience the fun and thrill together?” added the Navi unsurely as he thought: ‘Is Netto-kun changing his mind?’

“What?” Netto was dumbfounded.

Rockman rubbed his chin, eyes analyzing his operator. “Umm, I have a feeling you haven’t heard the latest news about the amusement park having a major upgrade attached to all of its rides and attractions… have you?”

Netto raised a brow. “Uh, no? That’s news to me.”

“I thought so. In the amusement park, what operators could ride and enjoy, Navis could as well – with or without their operators.”

Netto’s expression brightened. “If you put it that way, let’s enjoy every ride and attraction to the fullest! If we don’t have enough time for today, we could continue it tomorrow morning!” declared the operator in a determined tone.

Rockman chuckled into his fist. “Un, Netto-kun,” he concurred, sharing the boy’s enthusiasm.

‘Hold on, does this mean… this is a date!?’ he thought in realization as he clamped his reddened cheeks with his hands.

“What’s wrong, Rockman?”

“N-nothing, Netto-kun, let’s go!” he stammered, forcing a strained smile. ‘No, it’s not a date. We’re just hanging out... Y-yeah, it’s not a date at all!’

The Navi’s behavior was a little strange, but Netto didn’t question it. ‘He’s probably excited to go there that he was fantasizing about it,’ was Netto’s naïve mind thought.

-RKNT-

“Two tickets in a total of 4,000 zeni for you and your Navi,” confirmed the man in uniform behind the counter after scanning Netto’s PET for the entrance fees’ tickets. He then handed two tickets and some kind of a foreign gadget to the brunette. “There you go, little boy. Please return the device after you’ve exited the amusement park. Enjoy.”

Netto took them and scrutinized the gadget at every angle. “What is this?”

“It’s designed for Navis and it’s called ‘Experience Stimulation’. You simply connect your PET to the gadget, that way your Navi can engage 100% experience with all rides like everyone else,” the staff explained diligently. 

‘Hmm... I don’t really understand...’ Netto thought as he fiddled with the gadget.

The staff noticed his confusion and chuckled. “It’ll be easier to understand once you try it out.”

“I see, thanks, sir!” He grinned and received an instant response of “You’re welcome” from the staff. A few more paces forward, he handed the admission tickets to the ticket taker and entered. The atmosphere in the amusement park changed drastically. It gave off a different vibe. He actually felt excited.

“Oh yeah, before I forgot…” He connected the PET to the ES. “Okay, it’s done.” Turning to Rockman, he asked, “So where should we go first?”

Rockman scanned the map; excitement twinkled in his eyes. “Here...? No… here? Ah! Netto-kun, let’s try the roller coaster first!” He pointed toward the brunette’s left.

Netto laughed as he strolled toward the direction where Rockman had aimed. “Starting with the wild one first, huh?”

Rockman nodded, grinning. “You’ve no idea. They also did a huge modification on the roller coaster! I’m excited to see how different it’s going to be!”

‘Eh? Modification… on the roller coaster? What does that mean?’ Netto thought after he caught up to what Rockman had uttered. Something tugged his stomach uncomfortably. He had a bad feeling about this but he shrugged it off as minor worry. He had seen the roller coaster before and it probably wouldn’t change much, maybe _some_ changes on the paintjob.

Rockman was just exaggerating.

‘Yeah, let’s count on that thought.’

-RKNT-

He gasped sharply.

Rockman wasn’t exaggerating when he said the modification on the roller coaster would be huge...

And did Netto mention about some changes on the paintjob?

The ride looked plain before, now it was as colorful as a mesmerizing rainbow.

The exhilaration in the Navi’s widened eyes was evident while Netto’s lower jaw dropped in a mixture of shock and fear as brown eyes slowly following up the lines, shapes and size of the gargantuan attraction.

“Oh, hell – what’s with the size of this roller coaster…? I-it’s _huge_!” He felt a wave of dizziness swept over him just by looking at the sight of the monstrous-sized attraction.

“Isn’t it!?” Rockman grinned rather widely at Netto.

Netto cracked a strained chuckle. “You’re not kidding when you said it would be huge. _That_ is larger than the roller coaster I knew.”

Rockman peered over his operator’s expression and gave him a teasing smile. “Scared?”

Netto snapped. “What? O-of course not! Why would I be? In fact, I’m looking forward to it! Let’s get into line for our turn!” he stated in fake bravado.

His Navi didn’t drop his smile – it only widened. “Hmm, then I look forward to riding it with you, Netto-kun.”

To Netto, fifteen minutes of waiting didn’t feel like fifteen minutes at all. It felt like only ten seconds had passed by.

He was sitting on one of the ride’s seats. Strapped in safety, Netto dreaded for his life while Rockman was instructed by a ride attendant to stay inside the ES. The device was placed on a metallic table along with other devices – physically separated from the ride itself, though it served as a connection for Navis into the ride; whatever that meant. On the count of three, the Navi felt himself transported out from the device. To his delightful surprise, he found himself sitting on a hard leathered seat with straps on next to his operator.

“Netto-kun!” he shouted at the dazed-looking operator who snapped out from his frozen state.

“W-wha–?” His head turned to his side, expecting to face the doll-sized hologram of his Navi. “Rockman…? How?” He marveled at how real Rockman was right now, sitting beside him for real.

“I think this is what the man from the counter meant,” he said, sounding giddy. “I thought I was going to ride the roller coaster in the Cyberworld, guess I was wrong.”

“W-wow,” he whispered, gazing at his Navi in wonder. It was the only word he could express his astonishment. He never thought he would see the day where Rockman would appear again in the physical world. As he was about to reach a hand toward his blue friend, he didn’t realize the railway started rolling ahead until the abnormal change in gravity took charge of the brunette’s voice.

Screams from different voices were heard all over from the wild ride to the ears of anyone who was close to the site, except for the terror-induced Netto who was deaf to all screams as he was letting it out the loudest. On the contrary, Rockman’s laughter was absolutely mirthful that held the calming timbre similar to the breeze of the dancing ocean.

Rockman’s head turned to Netto; those pools of emerald were smiling brightly. “This rush of wind is great! I’ve never had so much fun in my life, Netto-kun! Are you having fun now!?” he yelled since the wheels of the ride were roaring with life.

Netto glared at him with frightful tears in his eyes. “No! I’m no- _Ahhhhhh!_ ”

After a couple more shrieks from Netto, the ride finally came to a stop. The brunette shakily removed himself from the deadly contraption. He supported himself with his hands on the wall, breathing heavily.

“I’m _never_ riding that again,” he rasped, swearing to himself.

“Are you okay?”

Netto sluggishly looked up at the unfamiliar face. It was one of the ride attendants.

“Y-yeah, I’ll be fine. The ride was too _wild_ for my taste. Thanks for asking.”

The staff nodded. “Here’s your ES.”

Netto took it from the staff and muttered his thanks to her. The staff smiled and returned back to work.

“Netto-kun?”

“What?”

“Are you really okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. I feel sick,” he replied hoarsely, his tone void of emotion. “I like the thrill of riding roller coasters but this one does not take the cake. I’m completely horrified and mentally scarred that I thought I’m gonna die just from screaming everyone’s ears off.”

Sweatdropping, Rockman chuckled at the blunt admittance. “Do you want to lie down for a bit?” suggested Rockman.

Netto considered it, but since he had decided to let Rockman do what he wanted to do for fun under limited time, he wouldn’t want to be the one to ruin his fun just because he felt the urge to puke all the contents inside his guts. “No, I felt peachy. Let’s head to another station.” He would feel better if he was far away from that device of agony.

“Are you sure? Don’t strain your body just to make me feel better,” Rockman scolded.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Rockman,” the boy said, grinning widely to make his point clear that he was in an excellent state of condition.

The Navi huffed, more or less satisfied with his operator’s answer. “But if you feel unwell, don’t keep it to yourself and tell me, okay?”

“Mmhm,” Netto said. “Now where do you wanna go?”

“Let’s see.” Rockman looked at his surrounding, poking his own cheek in contemplation. “Ah!” He outstretched his arm, pointing to one of the rides.

Netto’s eyes followed to his Navi’s choice of ride and chocked.

Not only had the roller coaster made a drastic upgrade, but also their next ride.

“The drop tower! I’ve always wondered how it would feel to have my heart stopped for a second on that ride! Let’s go, Netto-kun!” cheered the Navi while the operator felt like fainting on the spot.

The waiting line to the drop tower wasn’t long and that apprehended the NetSavior because now it was their turn.

“Aren’t you excited, Netto-kun!?” asked Rockman after he had materialized outside from the ES.

‘No.’ He looked like a corpse. Why? _Why?_ The last time he saw the drop tower it was a scary 90 meters high, but now it achieved a staggering 150 meters high. Did he ever mention how much he loathed the big drop?

“Are you ready, Netto-kun!?” squealed Rockman, eyes glimmering with positive anticipation.

Netto nodded rigidly but his thought was a contradictory: ‘No! I’m not ready!’

“Steel your heart, Netto-kun! We’re going to experience falling with gravity!” his Navi added the unnecessary worry to his heart.

“You don’t need to tell _meeeeee–!_ ”

They dropped, fast.

-RKNT-

At the end of the ride, the brunette’s skin color was as pale as bleach as he rested on a wooden bench, while the Navi stretched his arms up, appearing to be refreshed.

“Ahh~ how lucky you can get to be able to experience this awesome feeling every time you go to an amusement park, Netto-kun,” Rockman stated jealously.

“How do you not feel sick after riding two of those monster machines?” the brunette mumbled.

Rockman, detecting his mumbled question, answered his operator, “Probably because I find those rides entertaining?” He sounded unsure. But that was probably the reason, or his sanity was out of his helmet. Netto saw some Navis paralyzed with fear after riding one of those rides he had found terrifying, some even forcibly logged themselves out before the ride ended.

‘Maybe before I’ve received him, he has already lost some screws,’ Netto theorized in his mind, scratching his bandana.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, as I said, you don’t need to worry. I need time to adjust,” he said without looking at the other.

Noticing the Navi got closer to his face, he locked his eyes with those green ones.

“So, are you curious to know where we’re going next, Netto-kun?” asked Rockman with a smile and arms behind his back as he tilted his head. “I’ve picked the perfect one for us.”

Netto gulped, sweats emitting from his pores. Without his Navi intending to look intimidating in the operator’s eyes, that smile certainly brought dangerous charm to his life. He really was digging his own grave, wasn’t he?

“Sure. Bring it on, Rock.”

-RKNT-

A loud, exhausted exhale produced from the wearer of the blue bandana whose posture was slouched. “Where are we off to next, Rockman…?” he asked spiritlessly, his expression impassive.

The Navi gave an awkward smile. “Netto-kun, we’ve participated to almost every ride,” he noted. “As much as I enjoy these attractions and would love to continue, maybe you should rest for your own sake.”

Ignoring the slight throbbing around his head, Netto swung his head up at the mention of rest. “No, I won’t! You do what you want for fun today and I’ll go along!” he said with hardened determination before wobbling back into his rear.

“Netto-kun!?”

Netto held his hand up in a stop motion and the other covering his mouth. The acidity in his stomach splashed up against his throat and tongue as he swallowed it back down and winced at the sharp taste. He stood up, patting the dust away from his pants. “I’m fine, Rockman,” he lied, the corner of his lips curled up in a failed cheeky smile.

“Netto-kun,” the Navi addressed in an assertive tone that gathered the operator’s alertness. He gave his friend a wary glance and flinched under his unusual icy glare.

“Y-y-yes?”

“You _lied_ to me,” he accused, clenching his fists tightly. “More than once, I realized that now.”

The brunette raised his arms in a placating gesture. “H-hey, Rockman–”

“You said you’ll tell me if you’re feeling ill! But you didn’t! You’re disregarding your health,” he continued his berating, his eyes shadowed under the blue helmet. “I won’t tolerate this. If you’re unwell, tell me. I-I can’t stand it if, if… you–”

 _Oh crap. Is he…?_ “O-oi, Rockman…”

“It’s my fault… for being selfish…” Rockman sniffed under shaky breathing, tears flowing out continuously from his emerald green eyes. “I wouldn’t even take up on your offer if I knew you’re being like this… Am I… am I not trusted? Am I a good Navi…?”

Netto tensed, gazing at his best friend in shocked silence. He expected anything but never self-depreciating words. He had _never_ seen his strong, courageous Navi shed tears before, so unconfident, so unlike him. Witnessing Rockman’s expressive and heartbreaking display forced the unexplainable guilt out of his heart.

Netto breathed in. Right now the operator’s opinion about him was crucial to the Navi, no, his friend. “Rockman.”

Hearing his name being called made the said Navi look up, meeting the clear chestnut eyes that oozed unwavering resolution – a sight that made him unable to look away.

“You’re trusted by all of your friends and I trust you with my life. You’re a _great_ Navi – I’m sure you know that by now. Any operator would be lucky to have you as theirs and most important of all, you’re not just some customized Navi. I said this once and I’ll say this again: You’re my dear best friend,” Netto continued, sympathizing eyes softened when the expression of the Navi changed, his tears flowing again not of sorrow but joy. “I’m sorry for worrying you. But please don’t belittle yourself like that. It doesn’t suit you at all…” He teased lightly, “You sentimental crybaby.”

Rockman wiped the remaining tears from his eyes furiously and glared weakly at Netto. “I’m not a crybaby. Maybe a little bit sentimental, but not a crybaby!” he denied. “I’m just worried for you!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you worry more than Mama, you crazy mother-hen,” Netto quipped, grinning ever widely when Rockman pouted at him.

The Navi lowered his head and Netto couldn’t help but worry. “Rockman?”

“Thank you.”

The whisper of gratitude was returned back with “You’re welcome” by the other.

A moment of silence later, Rockman spoke up, “Hey, Netto-kun.”

“Hm?”

“You said I could do anything for fun and you’ll tag along, isn’t that right?”

“True, I said that.” Netto’s eyes then narrowed, suspecting. “Where are you going with this?”

Rockman looked at Netto, beaming ever _so_ innocently. “Well, I say _we_ should go eat and drink something next.”

Netto sighed in relief. Between the Navi and operator, Netto was one of the two who would think outside the box. He thought Rockman would take the reverse role too seriously and suggest something crazy and unexpected.

_Hold on a sec._

He gently set the track of thinking aside. What Rockman had said was a crazy suggestion. How did Navis eat something solid like human food again?

“You meant _me_ , right?” the brunette asked suspiciously.

“No, I meant _us_ ,” Rockman corrected, still wearing that disturbingly innocent facade; Netto suspected.

“Remember that Papa has enabled us Navis to be able to function our taste buds with flavors?”

Netto nodded slowly.

“Well, I want to try eating solid food.”

“What?”

His Navi didn’t explain anything and it got more confusing for Netto. “I’ve spotted a newly-established café nearby, why don’t we head there?”

“Wait, what?”

“Come on, Netto-kun! Stop stalling!”

The boy gave him a strange look. He didn’t know what Rockman was thinking but he would comply alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rock enjoys the experience of the amusement park.


	4. Start of Investigation: Act I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Netto got suspicious, but not of Rockman’s action, but of the amusement park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to be able to update sooner, since I will start my internship at 2019. I'll try to update chapter 5 before 2019. It's already half-way finished.

“Welcome to the Cyberworld to Reality Café!” a waitress greeted cheerfully, her closed palm outstretched toward the establishment.

“Uh, okay?” Netto answered with his head tilting slightly to the side. What a wordy name for a café.

Smiling professionally, the waitress asked, “Are you here with your Navi?”

“Huh? Of course I am...?” What a silly question.

“Oh.” She blinked, cocking her head to the side. “You seem confused, little boy. You must be new at this establishment.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I never knew there was a café inside this amusement park before. Rockman has insisted that we come here to _eat_ , so here we are.” Besides him, the Navi was fidgeting his shoulders in anticipation.

She clapped her hands together. “Oh, how delightful! Then I won’t make you and your Navi wait any further!” she exclaimed. “Oh before that, just to make sure, have you connected your PET to the ES?”

“Yeah, I have.”

“Good! Please, step inside, little boy,” she said, opening the door for his entrance.

He nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, little boy.”

Without a second thought, he entered the café and nearly fell over air from surprise at the unbelievable sight in front of him. Everywhere, there were operators and their Navis… outside of the Cyberworld. Sure, he had seen a couple of Navis ride the attractions they attended, but seeing them interacting with their operators and other Navis in close range was still an amazing sight to take in.

“Wow… Even in here?” he whispered in awe.

“Even in here, Netto-kun.”

Netto spun around and was met with a grinning Rockman standing close at the same height as him.

The poor boy could only silently stared at him, entranced by the realness of his solid existence, once again.

Rockman chuckled, gloved fist covering his lips. “Snap out of it, Netto-kun.”

With that, Netto blinked out of trance. Rockman was still here, in front of him.

“Come on. Let’s find some seats for us.” Rockman took Netto by his hand and led him.

The gloved hand that held his own bare one was warm and gentle.

Rockman stopped, turning to his operator and grinned. “Luckily for us there are two empty seats.” He let the hand go; the blush on his cheeks was unnoticeable by Netto. “Let’s take a seat, Netto-kun.”

“Un,” agreed Netto unquestioningly.

Both sat down, facing one another.

A waiter approached them and handed them the menu. “Please wave when you two are ready to order. I’ll be around that corner.”

They said their thanks and flipped open the menu.

Netto peered up from his menu to peek a look at Rockman who was looking down at his menu. The boy fidgeted his legs together, feeling unknowingly nervous. Rockman looked so natural. What he meant was, it was supposed to be Rockman who was nervous, not _him_ , but the Navi looked like he was able to blend in easily, adapting to his environment like all the previous battles he encountered against formidable enemies. If Netto was _ever_ in his Navi’s shoes, which he never wanted to be, he was sure he would be standing still like a statue.

Wait… blending in… adapting… enemies…?

The Navi noticed him staring and smiled, a hand resting on his cheek and the other on the menu. “What’s up? Still didn’t believe I’m in front of you, where nothing but proofs are everywhere around you?” he remarked cheekily.

Netto shook his head, body tensed. “That’s not it.” Rockman’s behavior wasn’t as what as he had expected. Being antsy and paranoid, like him, he understood. But this? Coolheaded, relaxed, unruffled, even _making_ a joke – and all words that described him currently were _unlike_ him, especially in a situation they were in. How could he be so dreadfully calm at this moment of impending danger?

The Navi blinked, slanting his head slightly to the side in confusion. “Then what is it?”

The brunette set the menu aside. “Rockman, don’t you think this place, the rides, every part of the amusement park, is odd?” he queried seriously, leaning forward with fingers intertwined on the table.

Rockman raised a brow that was shielded behind his helmet. “I... don’t understand?”

Netto frowned, tapping his toes rapidly on the ceramic floor. “Tell me anything you know about this heavily upgraded amusement park before our arrival today.”

“I… I don’t follow you. Could you be more specific?”

“Okay, here’s a better question: Do you know the leading individual’s identity that brings _all_ of these upgrades and facilities into the amusement park?”

Rockman crossed his arms, contemplating. “No.”

The operator insisted, “Is there anything on the internet?”

“Give me a moment to browse.” White alphanumeric codes rapidly filled the Navi’s green eyes. He closed his eyes and shook his head as a negative response. “Why are you asking though? Is something the matter?” he asked in a worried tone.

“Well… yes. Probably. This may sound crazy and strange, but this is just my opinion! So bear with me a little,” Netto said in a tone that pleaded for his Navi’s silent cooperation.

Rockman nodded.

The operator started, “I think this whole ground is an enemy base.”

Rockman opened his mouth, ready to argue, but held his tongue when Netto glared at him.

The boy continued, “If this place manages to conjure Navis out of the Cyberworld, why is it not known to most of us? Isn’t something like this considered as _huge_ that it would stand out as the main heading for weeks or months in the news?” He pulled out a finger to each name he mentioned. “Meiru-chan doesn’t know, Dekao doesn’t know, one of them would’ve dragged me here if they knew. If I’ve known about it, I would’ve come here too without a second thought.”

‘Come to think of it, if Roll-chan knew about this place, she would have recommended this amusement park as number one spot for dating,’ Rockman thought. “Hmm... you make a valid point. Though, maybe the ‘people’ in charge of the amusement park wanted the surprise to be a surprise for the masses. This may result only a small number of Navis or operators know about the recently developed industry,” reasoned the Navi.

“That still doesn’t add up well, Rockman. You know mouths are effective messengers in both worlds. I don’t believe that only a handful of people know about this place. Papa would’ve told us about the amusement park if he was behind this,” argued Netto, trying to get the information rolling in his Navi’s head.

“It’s–” Rockman closed his mouth and eyes sharpened. “No, that would never happen. Papa’s a man of science and morality; he wouldn’t do something as careless as this and create the possibility of endangering hundreds of lives. Plus, Papa, Meijin-san and the NetPolice have never mentioned anything about distributing related work or technology about Dimensional Area to one of the most unexpected places: The amusement park.” Shooting his operator a worried look, he lowered the volume of his voice and said, “If what you said hold validity, then there’s more to this place than meets the eye. What do you think should we do?”

Before Netto could reply, the same waiter who provided them the menus approached them. “Excuse me, sirs. I notice you’re sitting here without ordering anything for a while now. Are you ready to order yet?” he asked impatiently.

Netto paled. ‘Crap! I haven’t looked inside the menu! I should take a look now!’

Just as he was about to grab the menu, his Navi interrupted smoothly, “I would like to order a slice of tarte Tatin, and my operator here…” he paused and replied, “… would like a slice of mango cake.”

The waiter wrote their order down and nodded. “Your order will arrive shortly. Please wait for a moment.” He walked away.

Netto sighed in relief. “Thanks for the save, Rockman.”

“No problem,” Rockman replied with a smile and then frowned, crossing his arms with a huff. “On the other hand, that waiter has _no_ manner. A _while_? It’s only four minutes and fifty-eight seconds before he interrupted us! We haven’t even given him a sign that we’re ready to order yet and he is _ordering_ us to order? Rude.”

Netto let out an amused laugh mixed with slight awkwardness. “Come on, Rockman, let it go. Let’s leave that aside and back to our current topic; I’ve several questions to ask you before we approached the matter directly.”

Rockman, still vexed by the waiter’s treatment towards them, relented only because his operator said so. “Shoot.”

“Who told you about the new amusement park?”

“Not who, no one told me. I coincidentally saw it from an advertising board.”

Netto raised a brow. “So you got the information from an advertisement?”

“That’s right.” The Navi nodded. “I was helping Mama to find some good deals for ingredients, so I looked for the advertising board as a start and saw assorted advertisements posted on the board. I thought that the amusement park’s latest upgrades looked interesting. It didn’t mention anything related to Dimensional Area. Although the details seem kind of sketchy now that I think about it.”

“When?”

“Exactly three months and one day ago.”

“With that period of time, everyone should be aware of the upgrades,” Netto pointed out. “Why isn’t anybody talking about it? It’s strange.”

“Un, I agree. Should I inform both Papa and Meijin-san?” suggested the Navi.

“Yeah, go ahead, Rockman. I think it’s wiser to do so. What I said was only my speculation. I might be wrong, I might be right but if we’ve something to either erase or confirm our suspicion then we can plan our next move. And who knows, if it’s the latter, we might be given a mission to start an official investigation here like real detectives.”

Rockman chuckled then nodded. In an instant, he said, “I’ve sent the message to them; hopefully they’ll take this as a matter of urgency.”

“Hmm, in the mean time, since we’ve no permission to investigate the secluded areas yet, why don’t we ask some people or Navis about what they know? Maybe we can find some clues,” Netto suggested, rubbing his chin.

“Netto-kun, we’ve just ordered food here. Why don’t we eat first and go later?” Rockman, being the rational one, suggested back. “It’ll be a waste of zeni if we leave now.”

Netto let out a frustrated noise and conceded, “True. Fine, we’ll wait.”

‘Can Navis even eat?’ he thought in doubt. ‘Wait, there’s that one Navi eating chocolate mousse currently. It… is still a bizarre sight to look at. Wait. Where does all of that food go…? Navis can’t exactly digest solid food, right?’

-RKNT-

Not more than a minute, their orders arrived, much to Rockman’s curiosity and wonder.

A slice of upside-down apple tart served with a dollop of thick cream sat on a china plate was presented in front of the Navi. “So this is food...” Rockman breathed, overwhelmed with amazement. Having something very foreign and real yet familiar placed in front of him was definitely a new experience he was a bit hesitant to dive in. However, the fragrance of the dessert kicked into his nostrils, making him gulped reflexively. He picked up his spoon, sank it down on the tart and scooped it up at eye level for inspection. He brought it closer to his lips and clamped it down before removing the spoon from his mouth. His tongue made contact with the dessert, making his eyes widened. Chewing carefully, the rich taste exploded and spread all over his tongue – tangy, sweet and savory. He swallowed, craving for more. He took another careful bite, chewed, swallowed it and repeated the process again and again until his plate was clean.

This apple tart’s exotic flavors rendered him speechless.

Putting the spoon down on the plate with a contented sigh, he looked up at his operator who gave him a look of amusement, unaware of the brown eyes staring at him the moment he picked up his spoon. “Netto-kun,” he started.

“Yes?”

“Why don’t we just leave this whole establishment uninvestigated and come here every single day?”

The ridiculous declaration made Netto almost fell over from his chair. He brought up his clenched trembling fist, threatening to smack the Navi’s armored head _hard_. “Are you crazy!? That will most definitely dry up my year worth of allowance! I won't even have enough to spend on a plate of MaHa Ichiban’s curry!” He whispered the next sentence in incredulity, “And ‘just leave this whole establishment uninvestigated’? _Are you for real?_ ”

Rockman laughed, holding his hands up in a placating manner. “Calm down, Netto-kun. It’s a joke. I’m joking.”

“You better be.” The operator grumbled, “I swear you’re being brainwashed by sweets.”

He was _only_ half-serious, but Netto needed not to know about that.

“Hm?” His operator hadn’t touched his yet. “Netto-kun, are you going to eat _that_?”

Netto looked down at his mango cake and then at his Navi. “Yeah, but if you want it, you can have it.” He pushed the plate toward him. “Go ahead,” he offered in a casual tone as he glanced outside the window, hoping to find some strange activities out there.

Rockman assessed the slice of mango cake in consideration and picked up the plate before smiling mischievously. He had a better idea.

“Netto-kun.”

“What–?” When Netto turned to Rockman, he was faced with a spoonful of orangish lump near his lips.

“Ah~ Netto-kun,” he cooed. “Open your mouth~”

Netto jerked his face to other direction. “W-w-what’re you doing!?” stuttered the boy, face flushed red in mortification.

Rockman blinked in confusion as he cocked his head to one side. “Feeding you?” he simply said, lowering down the spoon.

“I can see that!” he hissed. “But why!? I gave it to you because I thought you wanted to eat that!” He pointed at the cake.

Rockman pouted. “I had my fill. You haven’t. Besides…” His lips curled up, eyes squinted like a smile. “You said I can do whatever I want for fun and you’ll go with it,” he reminded; completely aware that he had said this twice.

“That doesn’t make sense,” the boy argued. “Why is feeding me considered as fun?”

“Because it’s fun to me. Come on, indulge me, Netto-kun,” the Navi pleaded.

The boy’s eye twitched. ‘More like he’s indulging me,’ Netto thought. He wasn’t used to people pampering him.

“Rockman, you’re being ridiculous–”

“Are you going back down on your word?”

Netto’s lips thinned as he glared at his smiling Navi.

“Give it to me. I’ll finish it.” A palm extended toward Rockman who withdrew the plate and spoon from the operator’s sight.

“No. I want to feed you.”

“I have two hands; all the more reason why I should feed myself.”

“No. I _want_ to feed you myself,” he persisted.

“But there are enemies–”

“Until either Papa or Meijin-san sends us results, nothing is confirmed.”

“Fine,” the brunette said tightly. He couldn’t do anything to change his Navi’s mind when he was this frustratingly _stubborn_. He wondered if this feeling of exasperation was how Rockman had to deal with when he refused to comply. “Do whatever you want.”

The unwilling consent thrilled Rockman. Eagerly, he brought up the spoon to Netto’s closed lips once again, urging him to eat it.

“Open your mouth; here comes the choo-choo train, Netto-kun,” Rockman teased, swirling the spoon playfully.

“Stop taunting me as if I’m a toddler or I’ll seriously revoke it!” demanded the annoyed Netto.

The other laughed, taking the threat lightly. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop.”

Crossing his arms defensively, Netto glared down at the spoon before his eyes looked sideways warily. ‘ _Ugh. This is so humiliating; in front of public, nonetheless. If Meiru-chan or Dekao or Enzan or anyone I know saw this, they’ll mock me like there’s no tomorrow.’_

He bit his lip, looking up at Rockman and then down at the spoon.

“Go on,” the other encouraged.

Approaching, Netto slowly opened his mouth and enclosed the spoon between his lips before he quickly withdrew. Chewing on the soft sugary dessert with blushing cheeks, he glared at Rockman’s mirthful expression.

“Isn’t it delicious?”

Netto, who was suppressing his humiliation through silence, forced himself to nod.

The Navi scooped another one up at Netto, grinning even wider. “Here goes another one.”

Brown eyes never leaving the other, Netto swallowed and took another bite, harsh and vengeful.

Rockman wasn’t heedless to his operator’s displeasure and embarrassment, because he reckoned that Netto’s crimson-colored face and frustration, caused by him, wasn’t a bad sight to behold. He, in fact, felt excited and wanted nothing more than to impel some more reactions out from the brunette. But this was enough for now.

A few more bites from his operator had the plate wiped clean, much to Rockman’s disappointment. If there were more edibles set on the table, he’d take the chance and time to feed the boy more.

“There, happy?” Netto grumbled, winding his arms together with stitched eyebrows.

“Very.” The Navi nodded with a smile. “Hm?” There was something stuck on his operator’s cheek.

“Netto-kun,” he addressed the boy who in turn faced toward him and replied: “What is it, Rockman?”

The said Navi didn’t reply, instead he leaned forward; his blue gloved hand was advancing toward his operator. Using his thumb to swipe the orange-colored icing away from the boy’s cheek, he said: “There was something on your face.” He licked the substance off of his finger.

‘Sweet,’ he thought and froze, blushing. ‘Wait– did I just–?’

Netto frowned. “Urgh, did you’ve to do that? You could’ve just told me there was an icing on my cheek so I can wipe it off myself.” He added after a few seconds of pause, “And if you really want to eat that mango cake, you should have just taken my offer. No need to eat it from my face, you know?”

Rockman sweatdropped and turned his face away from the other to veil his despaired expression. He mentally screamed. ‘How dumb can Netto-kun be to not realize _that_?’ What Rockman unconsciously did was an act of flirting. Anyone would have known but apparently not his thick-skulled operator.

“Rockman?”

The said Navi faced Netto, rubbing his helmet as he chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry, sorry. It was just a reflex, Netto-kun.”

Netto sighed. He couldn’t help but worry for his Navi; he had been acting strange lately. “I’ll call for the bill.” He waved his arm, attracting the attention of the same waiter. He said, “The bill, please!”

After Netto paid the desserts with his PET, they exited the café and Rockman dematerialized, much to the disappointment of the pair.

The waitress who greeted them previously bid them goodbye and to come again with Netto grinning back and replied: “Definitely, miss!”

Walking a bit distant from the café, Netto boringly asked, “Ne, Rockman, is there any reply from Papa yet?”

Speak of the devil, the ringing from the PET had Rockman responded, “Netto-kun! You’ve gotten an email from Papa. It says here that Papa and the others had looked into the amusement park for details, information but found no other similar cases. The identities of the individuals who’ve deployed artificial fields similar to Dimensional Area are unidentified. Oh, there’s more… The NetPolice has requested for our assistances to investigate every nook and cranny of the amusement park’s areas to look for anything suspicious, as soon as there’s anything unusual, reporting it to them would be advisable. Blues and Enzan-kun will be joining us with the investigation soon after the meeting with IPC. That’s all.” Rockman commented, “Looks like we get to be our own detectives before they arrive, Netto-kun.”

Grinning widely, Netto rubbed his hands together in unconcealed excitement. “Then, let’s get nosy!” He pumped his fist to the air.

“Even if that word actually describes us now, I don’t think you should sentence it that way,” Rockman said, scratching his cheek with his forefinger.

-RKNT-

The amusement park’s areas were vastly huge and the diverse stations made it impossible for both Netto and Rockman to investigate the whole areas themselves in a day. So, to make the investigation efficient and less time-consuming, they crossed out the areas they didn’t need to look into. In the end, with two brains working together, they concluded that there were three different locations that worth the time and energy to investigate; locations that were restricted to non-employees. Criminals’ bases were usually settled in dark, sequestered areas so that they could carry out their iniquitous plans without attracting unwanted attentions, such as the NetPolice. On the other note, so that Enzan and Blues could track their whereabouts, Rockman sent the locations where they would be heading.

“So,” Netto paused, raising his head up. “Our first stop’s here: The Haunted House.”

Rockman paled as he fidgeted with his fingers. “N-Netto-kun, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he trembled. “Maybe we should just leave…?”

Trying to reassure his Navi, Netto firmly stated, “Rockman, pull yourself together! The Haunted House is under construction, so there will be no strange _human-made_ activities happening around there.”

“T-t-that’s worse! No human presence means the possibility of t-those entities will appear!” he stammered, teeth chattering. “W-what if the g-ghosts are already inside? And they’re expecting us! What should we do, Netto-kun!?”

 _Oh dear._ Netto scratched his head. “Clear out that thought, Rockman. You’re overthinking. No such thing will _ever_ happen,” he assured, getting impatient.

“B-b-but it clearly says ‘The Haunted House’!” Rockman stammered, as he shakily pointed up toward the huge horror-decorated board set on the equally dark, menacing-looking establishment. “Please don’t make me go in there! Just leave this place for Blues and Enzan-kun to handle after they arrive.” He clasped his fingers together, begging desperately toward his operator. “Can we, Netto-kun? _Please?_ ”

Netto sighed in exasperation. “Rockman, we’ll waste time if we leave now. You’re supposed to be the reasonable one out of the two of us.”

Rockman whimpered pathetically. He was still in his begging posture.

“I promise you that nothing will happen! Now let’s go!” the boy said cheerfully as he passed across the ‘No Entry’ sign.

“Anywhere but inside!” Rockman pleaded hysterically. “ _Please!_ ”

“Too. Late!” intoned Netto, twisting the door’s knob as he barged inside the building. “We’re already inside!”

“Hngh–!” The Navi’s hologram instantly dispersed as he hid inside the PET like a skittish mouse.

After closing the door shut, Netto looked around, assessing his surroundings. “I-it really is an impressive haunted house,” he commented, starting to feel a little creeped out. Each decoration, especially the Amerope-looking dolls, looked realistically terrifying as if their glaringly huge doll-eyes were staring down at them like predator to prey. He shivered and shook his head. No way. “Let’s go further.”

“Going further is a bad, _bad_ idea, Netto-kun,” squeaked Rockman; his person was nowhere to be seen inside the PET.

“Psh,” Netto said, walking farther and away from the entrance door. “Don’t be a wimp. It may be a bad idea to you and your supernatural beliefs, but this is our job. It’ll take us like about fifteen minutes to finish our investigation in here.”

Rockman didn’t say anything, but he let out a terrified whimper. Fifteen minutes would be a soul-stealing torture to the boy’s Navi.

The operator scratched his head, eyeing the screen of the PET to look for the hiding Navi. “You just have to endure fifteen minutes. Just fifteen minutes, oka– Ow!” he let out a noise of pain.

“Netto-kun, what’s wrong!?” Rockman asked in panic, conjuring his hologram to check up on the operator only to find him crouching and clutching one of his shins in pain. “Did the ghosts appear and attack you!? I told you–!”

“D-don’t be ridiculous, I just bumped my leg onto something... You know, I notice this place looks darker the further we’re away from the entrance door. It’s… too dark,” he concluded uncomfortably, tiny amount of anxiety hit him.

The complete absence of light.

The darkness suddenly reminded him of _that_ dream, of the mysterious boy.

The only source of light was the tiny, greenish shimmer radiated from the PET. The green light and the holographic form of his blue companion were the sources of his assurance. If not for those reminders, his eyes would be blinded by the darkness and he’d likely be slightly panicked.

Netto pushed himself up from the ground; his palms on the dusty, ceramic floor felt like ice and his shin was slightly throbbing. “Let’s explore every area and ahead. Who knows what we’ll find in here,” he said.

“Un,” Rockman agreed timidly as he nodded his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to get its climax.
> 
> Scared and cowardly as he is, Rockman is still a cute little shit. I don't know why he is programmed that way.


	5. Start of Investigation: Act II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A step closer to the unknown allowed the danger to lurk near.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have completed my 6-month Internship! So I finally got a chance to post this! Thank you for those who are waiting! More investigation than fluff though.

Inside one of the IPC’s meeting room presented Ijuuin Enzan and the company’s staff members, discussing about the skyrocketed success of their latest project they launched in Nihon one week ago, the date of distributing the latest project’s technologies to other countries and the forecast of the project’s total revenue in a year.

“Once the technologies are distributed to every nation, both IPC and masses will be benefited from–”

“Excuse me, Enzan-sama,” Blues addressed, asking for permission.

The vice president held a hand to the speaker whom silenced with a slight bow. He nodded to his Navi as a silent sign for him to proceed speaking.

“You receive an email from the NetPolice,” informed the Navi to which made Enzan’s brow raised. “It seems they require our assistance.”

“Let me see.” He read the content, frowned and closed his eyes in finalization. “Netto and Rockman can handle it. Blues, tell Commissioner Kifune we’ll be right there as soon as my meeting with IPC is over,” he decided.

“Roger.”

“So,” Enzan started, sharp blue eyes looking at his future employees. “Where were we?”

-RKNT-

Netto’s exploration to the pitch-black hallways were about ten minutes now. Sadly there was no suspicious finding from the blind search he conducted in this lack-of-light building. Without some light, his every movement was restricted into slow and careful pacing around the unfamiliar territory. It was quite a futile effort to spot even the smallest but crucial detail in the building, if there was any. He didn’t want to admit it but he was getting impatient from finding nothing but darkness – a waste of time. But until every nook and cranny of this establishment was unveiled, he had to persist in this current search, hoping to find some evidences or clues to crack open the secret and mystery hidden from the public.

“If only we can find some access for you to get into this building’s system, it’ll make our investigation easier,” Netto mused, twisting a doorknob and peeked into the room that was as equally dark as the hallway. He decided to get inside. “Too bad they don’t have one.”

“Even if they do have it, I will not get inside the system. T-there will be–”

“No such thing as ghosts,” he remarked firmly, touching some stuff that he presumed was set on a long, wooden table. It felt cold, hard and round to the touch; dusty too. He guessed it was some kind of a strange-shaped vase. He left it alone and moved on to the next area of the room.

‘This room is quite big,’ the boy thought, his fingers gliding lightly on stuffs he couldn’t see as he slowly shuffled forward. ‘Maybe the blindness tricks me into thinking that.’ He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together; it was dusty.

“Oh, you wouldn’t know!” Rockman crossed his arms disapprovingly. “What if we meet one on the spot? What would you do? Run away?”

“Uh-huh, why not?” the boy drawled. The next thing he touched felt like a stack of case-bound books. He lightly and continuously brushed the spine of the books and stopped. Feeling the same spot again, there was something smooth, half-round and protruding. It felt like something he could twist or push.

Crossing his arms, the Navi in blue looked away uncaringly. “Fine, but if you’re facing one, get caught or possibly be possessed, I wouldn’t be your back-up. I will just stay still in the PET, do nothing and watch you getting dragged away into the pits of hell.”

Netto snapped from his concentration and turned to his Navi. “Woah, woah, whoa, Rock. That’s some wild imagination you got there. I didn’t know you’re such an exaggerated sadist,” he said, honestly surprised as he gave him an incredulous look mixed with amusement.

Rockman sniffed and the look he was displaying seemed like a pout to Netto. “I disagree to your insult, but let’s hope nothing supernatural occurs.”

Netto chuckled. “Well, for my sake, I sure hope so,” he said and went back to concentrate on identifying the strange addition on the books’ spines and frowned.

The Navi, noticing the odd quietness in his operator’s behavior, called for him, “Hey, Netto-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing?”

“Feeling the stack of books – one part of the books’ spines feels strange to me.”

That got Rockman curious. “How so…?”

“I felt something round, smooth… It’s something similar like a huge, red emergency button,” the operator described. “And it’s sort of strange, since no books have that kind of attachment.”

The Navi lowered his head. “That… _is_ odd,” he admitted. Curiously, he approached the books. His hologram emitted enough light to reveal the mysterious item. “You’re right. It’s as you describe.”

It really was a huge, red emergency button.

Netto rubbed his fingers. “Furthermore, there isn’t a speck of dust on that thing.”

“Dust?”

“Yeah, I’ve touched a couple of stuffs – tables, vase, writing equipments, walls, props. All of them are dusty, except for this odd thing.” He testily tapped the ‘button’ with his fingernail, which produced a dull sound. “I can’t help but feel suspicious.”

“Netto-kun, could you give me a few seconds? I want to analyze that button.”

“Go ahead.”

“Roger.” Rockman’s hologram disappeared from sight before appearing once again after a few seconds, just like he precisely requested.

“What did you find?”

“Based on my analysis, it seems that the button’s interior system is based on an ancient technology.”

Netto rubbed his chin. “Strange, I thought nowadays people are way past from using ancient technology.”

“Well, that depends on what kind. This technology, though, is vastly different than just some old technology. This may sound out of stretch... and crazy,” he hesitated, looking at Netto with worry. “But I can tell it gives off similar vibe to Duo’s creators’ technology.”

Netto’s eyes widened, taken aback. “What? Duo’s creators? Are you saying this technology is somehow related to Duo?” They were way, way past Duo and to bring his name upon this case was unsettling to the boy. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Maybe, or maybe not, but without decisive evidence, I might be wrong. I can only say it for sure that it’s a very… alien-like technology if you ignore the simplicity of its exterior design,” he pointed out seriously.

“Leaving the mention of Duo aside, now that we know its design’s based on Duo’s creators’ ancient technology, what does it exactly do? Activating a trap?” he joked.

Letting out an awkward chuckle, Rockman informed, “Nothing dangerous your creative mind has thought of, Netto-kun. And I’ve checked that there’re no traps installed. To answer your question: that button is literally the key to unveil this building’s secret hidden room.”

Netto gawked. He couldn’t believe his ears. “There’s one in here!? Are you absolutely sure?”

“I’m absolutely sure,” Rockman said and then added: “I’ve checked it thrice.”

“By the look on your face, there is a ‘but’.”

“Yeah, there is. The problem is that I can’t gain access into its firewall. I’ve never seen a defense in depth’s layers so impenetrable and complex. The lack of vulnerability makes it a perfect defense barricade that not even IPC’s cutting-edge technology could break into it.”

The operator sighed heavily. “So what’s our choice here? Contact Papa? Request the NetPolice for few extra hands?”

“There’s no need to,” replied the Navi while shaking his head sideways. Netto raised his brow at the answer as he silently waited for his Navi to explain further.

“Netto-kun, try to lift a book,” his Navi responded.

Unexpected by the strange suggestion, the boy questioned, “Why?”

“Just try to lift it and I’ll explain.”

“Fine, but I could lift more than one, right?”

“Uh, sure. You don’t need to, though. Just one is enough.”

“What? I can lift more than that! You doubt me?” he childishly argued with complete confidence.

“I don’t doubt you can do it but just _one_ is enough, Netto-kun.”

Either the words didn’t reach the boy or he purposely turned a deaf ear to the Navi and lifted three books at once. Huh, he knew thick books were heavy but they were heavier than they seemed. He lifted them once more, this time using full force to pull the books from the other books. But they didn’t budge. It was as if they were glued with some strong mucilage. “It’s completely stuck!” he said with a wheeze and his face red, lacking of oxygen. “Why would you tell me to lift the books?” he whined. And then, there was the accusation: “Don’t tell me you know it’s not going to budge and you still didn’t stop me?”

 _Oh, his lovable idiotic of an operator._ Rockman sighed, shaking his head before putting a fist on one side of his hips and the other gestured a forefinger up to the air. “First of all, I told you to lift one, just _one_ book. Initially, I was going to stop you from wasting your energy further but since you didn’t listen and decided to lift three books at once, I thought of letting you do what you want. To be honest, making you realized it on your own was a much quicker and effective way for you to take notice of the impossibility of your action.” He added, “I would even say it’s pointless for me to stop you since you’re too stubborn to listen to me.”

Netto groaned, knowing full well he couldn’t blame the Navi since it was his own fault for not listening to him in the first place. “This time is all on me, but enough being a wiseacre, Rockman.”

Rockman’s eyebrow rose with amusement, one side of the lips curled upward. “But I’m your Navi. It’s my job being a know-it-all,” he replied to the remark as if it was the highest regard of all compliments.

He shot the Navi a disapproving look. “I’m going to pretend I never heard that. Now, what’s the point of lifting the book? Is that even important?”

“Absolutely crucial. I told you to lift the book to make my point clear. The reason you can’t make it budge is because the books are a part of the button – a part of the key. But,” he added before his operator interjected the ridiculousness of his claim, “From what I’ve gathered earlier, the contents of the books act as a guide for us to gain access into the hidden room.”

Fingers on chin, Netto stitched his brows in silent concentration. Then, without warning, he swiftly slammed his palm onto the button with a loud thump.

Rockman jolted at Netto’s rash action. “Netto-kun, why did you do that!?” he demanded in panic. “Are you trying to damage our only lead?”

“Calm down, Rockman. If these books are our guidance… and the red button is our key…” he trailed with a grin, pointing to a direction as the other’s green eyes followed the movement.

“Then we’ve got a lot of things to work on for the password,” he ended, smiling confidently.

Rockman breathed, eyes widened in realization.

There were precisely nine columns, which all shaped like a sunflower. The lines of the columns were bright yellow and each was presented in a holographic display.

He turned to Netto. “Did you know?”

Resting his hands on his hips, the boy laughed. “I didn’t!” he declared with sheer audacity. “But it somehow gives me the itch to press it!”

Rockman laughed weakly. His operator’s recklessness was going to be the deletion of him someday. “Next time, don’t let your impulsiveness take over your action,” he advised. “My metaphorical heart almost flew out from my throat.”

Netto scratched his cheek with his finger in shame. “Sorry about that, Rock. Now, let’s see…” Removing the PET from his left strap and utilized the screen as a source of flashlight, he could see better in the dark than before. He started to flip a page from the book and immediately furrowed his brows. He flipped another page, and another one. Every page he turned was the same. It looked like someone had too much free time to make jutted dots into the pages, but it was strangely systematic. He stopped at a random page. “Rockman, does this page seem damaged to you?”

The Navi flew down, landing his holographic feet on the page. “It’s Braille, Netto-kun,” he replied.

“Braille? Isn’t that something for the blind so that they can read by touch?” Netto asked, brushing his fingers on a page.

The Navi nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“I’m unfamiliar with it. Could you do something about it?”

“I could translate it for you,” he suggested.

“That would be great!”

“What page do you want it to be translated?”

“Uh, oh, try this one.”

“Okay, hold on a minute.”

…

“I’m done.” Through hologram, Rockman viewed out a translated page for Netto to read. “Though, I think you’ll find it quite strange.”

“Psh, we’ve faced stranger things,” Netto replied nonchalantly. “This won’t–”

…

“Umm… Rockman…? Are you sure this is the _exact_ translation?”

“I told you it’ll be strange,” the Navi huffed, crossing his arms.

“Of course it’s strange! This… this is, Monkey-Crab Battle, one of the folktales Mama used to read to me when I was younger. Why would that story be in the books?” he murmured to himself before shaking his head. No use of thinking if nothing came out from it. _But what if…_ “Rockman, translate this, this and this page.”

The Navi did as he said. “Un.”  He translated the three pages and showed them to the boy.

Frowning, he turned to the last page. “Translate it.”

Rockman shrugged, did his job and presented it to his operator. “Here, Netto-kun.”

The boy narrowed his eyes. Every page that Rockman translated turned out to be _more_ folktales, some familiar, some unfamiliar. Nonetheless, all are tales from the past.

“Unbelievable.” He then whined, “I expected _more_ , like cryptogram, disarraying numbers, anything complex – but this? Utter disappointment.”

The Navi scratched his cheeks, expressing his infamous awkward smile to Netto’s complaint. “You perfectly know that’s not how everything works.”

“But that’s how _everything_ works here,” he argued. “We’re looking at something that isn’t even connected to our case.”

“Now, now,” coaxed the Navi. “If it is a clue, then without a doubt it’s connected, Netto-kun – folktales or cryptogram. Think of it like it’s a riddle, but with less numbers or strange symbols.”

“If a riddle unavoidably needs clues from _these_ books that contain every folktale in order to solve the case, then we’re going _nowhere_ close to the solution,” grunted the operator. He was positive they could find the password for the entrance to the secret room prior to the discovery of the clues that were filled with fictional tales for children. “Worst of all, I don’t know where to begin.”

Unlike the operator, his Navi was cool-headed. He wasn’t dissuaded from the impossibility of solving the challenge. Normally, he’d think that this type of situation was an opportunity for the operator to learn and search for the solution. Unfortunately, this was a mission that required more than just one brain. So right now, two heads are better than one.

“Then let us piece out what we know all about the amusement park in order – the history, the staffs and perhaps the individuals who are directly and indirectly involved with it. It is possible that the folktales have something to do with one of those I mentioned.”

The brunet hummed in approval. “Collecting information is a good way to begin. Now where should we start from? The history?” he randomly suggested.

Rockman nodded. “Would you like to know about the amusement park’s whole history starting from its establishment?”

Netto rubbed his head, unsure if he wanted to listen to boring history from the start. But it was necessary for their case, so he answered: “Uh, sure.”

Seeing his operator’s hesitated answer, Rockman ensured light-heartedly, “Don’t worry about the history being lengthy. It’s shorter than expected.”

“Oh, okay.”

He began, “To begin with, this amusement park literally has no official name, just ‘Amusement Park’. It’s established in 19XX – that’s before you’re born. It has a total of twenty-five types of attractions. There are fifteen stalls that sell variety of food and beverages. As you know, the café we’ve just gone to is the only thing that’s newly built. The amusement park is owned by Hasegawa Genkei who’ll be turning sixty this year.”

As the Navi stopped talking, Netto raised his brow. “That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“But it can’t be that short!” he exclaimed disbelievingly. “This place has been in existence for– how many years was that? Three decades? Its history can’t be just simply three to four sentences!”

“Unfortunately, it’s all I get regarding the whole establishment. There’s nothing historically major we need to know, unless you want to acquire an initial understanding about the beginning of the attractions’ construction, starting from its designs?”

“You’re not helping,” grunted Netto. They were getting nowhere at this pace of stagnancy. There had to be something crucial they could use as a clue to open their path. Think, _think! Think outside of the box!_ The columns were sunflower design; the clues were the combination of local and international folktales – those mentioned had to be some kind of hints. Something seemed missing. Not all clues were present in their sight. It had to be something else.

“Hey, Rock.”

“What is it, Netto-kun?”

“Other than Genkei-san as the owner of the amusement park, is there anyone else who co-owns the place?”

“Unlikely. There’s no such thing being mentioned, or officially announced.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely sure.”

Darn, so co-ownership was out of the possibility options. Then, an idea hit him. “Does Genkei-san have any children…?”

The operator’s next question made Rockman shoot him a puzzled expression, although he provided him the answer he needed: “Hasegawa-san has a daughter.”

Glints of cognizance ran across Netto’s brown eyes. If his deduction was right, then it was possible… “What’s her name and current age?”

“Her name’s Hasegawa Himawari and she is–”

The sudden halt urged a question from Netto’s natural curiosity. “And she is…?”

“She’s deceased at the age of ten, fifteen years ago, at 31 August 19XX,” Rockman spoke grimly; his green eyes held an emotion closely related to sympathy.

The boy was taken aback. The mention of death brought dread into his mind. It was a mind-boggling subject to discuss, especially in a dark, secluded room they were currently at. He wasn’t as scared as Rockman of intangible creatures, but right now between the two of them, he was the one feeling insecure. “Oh, I… see…” he replied after several seconds of silence. Would it be considered as disrespectful to dig information of the deceased? He was hesitant but it was necessary for the case. “W-what’s the cause of her death?” He gulped anxiously at the following answer.

“She succumbed to a rare disease called HBD,” informed Rockman. “But what’s all these got to do with the case we’re working on?”

It was now Rockman’s turn to ask question, which lifted the worry in the operator’s heart, if only slightly. “I’m trying to figure out something. It’s closely related to the clues!”

“You’re linking one connection to another?” asked Rockman tentatively, although it sounded more like a statement than a question, which showed the Navi’s effort of attempting to comprehend what the operator was talking about.

Netto grinned, eyes shone proudly. “Exactly what I am doing! You see, we’re missing some pieces that we haven’t included in as part of the clues for the password, which are the sunflower columns and the folktales. Those are both indications of youth.” At that revelation, his Navi’s eyes widened in astonished realization.

“You’re trying to imply that Hasegawa-san’s daughter is the main clue…”

“Correct!” Netto clicked his fingers.

He continued, “And by that extend, you’re pointing fingers at Hasegawa-san as the main culprit for unauthorized Dimensional Area.”

“You hit the jackpot again!”

“You make a valid point, but what makes you think differently?” queried Rockman curiously. He’d like to hear his line of thinking.

“Well,” the brunet started, rubbing his head. “I thought that the reason why we can’t find much information about the amusement park is probably because Genkei-san is the owner of the amusement park. An owner always has that control that most don’t have, except if the concept of co-ownership applies in the amusement park.” Unsurely, he added, “I’m not hundred percent confident that it’s the right clue though. There could be other reasons why the information is limited, but I want to stick to that one until we’ve found another that we can connect it with the password, even better, the case too.”

Rockman closed his eyes in consideration, rubbing his chin with his gloved fingers. “Let’s try using your reasoning. That… _might_ possibly be the reason why the information is shared under controlled limitation.” He glanced at Netto as he expressed his resolution, “Alright, since we’re, hopefully, going somewhere, I’ll find as much as information about Genkei Himawari as I could.”

Netto nodded and added as a reminder, “Oh! Let’s not forget about her dad too, who knows the information we’ve gotten about him might be useful for the case.”

“The whole family case then. Roger that,” responded Rockman as he dematerialized from the real world. “Hold on, shouldn’t we tell Enzan-kun or Papa or even Meijin-san about what we’ve discovered? Maybe in the process, we might gain some crucial information from them.”

 _Now where’s the fun in telling them before we get a taste of adventure of our own,_ Netto thought as he treaded his words carefully, “We aren’t in mortal danger, right? Besides, we’re just cracking some codes so what could have happened? Nothing bad has happened so far.”

“But–”

“Rock, trust me. We’ll call one of them when we are in dire need of their help.”

The blue Navi sighed. “Alright then, if you say so. I won’t be long,” he replied from the PET.

“Wait,” Netto interrupted before the navigator could log into the Internet City. “When you said you won’t be long you mean you’re going to the NetCity?” His skin tone turned pale. He was going to be left here all _alone_?

The Navi raised a brow at the other’s question. Wasn’t it obvious? “Of course,” he confirmed. “Since you didn’t want any help from Enzan-kun, Papa or Meijin-san, and not to mention that we lack the details we need currently, and the information we require is quite personal to the point it’s heavily secured for some reason, we’d have to search an alternative way to get those information. Internet City is the best place for acquiring any kind of information and I know just the right place to head for. It’ll take me at least fifteen minutes and come back here to have all the information ready for us to use.”

This wasn’t what he had in mind. The boy, with all of his mental might, resisted from pleading hysterically to Rockman not to leave him alone in this terrifyingly hollow and spooky establishment. His action would indirectly intensify Rockman’s fear for intangible beings and delay the efficiency of their investigation. Not to mention, he would get teased by his own Navi for being such a scaredy-cat. For Rockman and his sake, he must resist but his pride was barely hanging. He forced his fingers to stop fidgeting and swallowed the lump of uneasiness away. _He must resist_. He showed his best ‘ _I’m perfectly fine_ ’ face. “U-um, okay. Be careful then.”

Though his tone was slightly unconvincing, Rockman didn’t suspect a thing. “That was supposed to be _my_ line. Don’t do anything reckless out… _there_ while I’m gone, Netto-kun,” mothered the Navi.

Fear forgotten temporarily, the said person rolled his eyes and hissed in annoyance, “Geez! Trust me a bit, will you?”

“Not unless you promise me to be especially mindful of your own action while I’m not around,” Rockman insisted with his arms crossed and green eyes steeled in what Netto seemed to identify as stubbornness – a rare quality that was conveyed earlier in the café.

‘Worrisome Navi…’ Netto thought with a sigh. “Okay, I’ll try,” he promised.

Rockman nodded his head in satisfaction, turning from serious to his usual self at that promise. “I’ll hold you on to that, Netto-kun. In the meantime, why don’t you try picking up the written language? Who knows after my return, you learn some basic Braille? Oh, I’ll even leave the instruction on the PET of how to read Braille. I’m sure it’ll come in handy for you.” With that being said, he exited from the PET and began his search.

Netto chuckled. Rockman had got to be teasing him. As if he had the capability of learning Braille in a short amount of time. On the other hand, he wasn’t usually the type of person to wait and sit around while others were busy. Not to mention that he couldn’t exactly look anywhere else for clues other than the book sitting in front of him since all the clues were right there, waiting for him to solve it.

‘It can’t be helped. I better make myself useful or I won’t hear the end of Rockman’s endless rambling,’ he thought uselessly as he let his fingers run blindly over things he couldn’t name or accurately describe as what they were and he certainly _didn’t_ want to know what unknown his hands were in contact with – he thought he felt something rough and hairy. It made him shiver in disgust and grit his teeth at the same time when the _thing_ ran away at the slightest brush of his touch. He shook his head in denial, trying not to think about what the _thing_ was. Finally, when he grabbed on something he knew what it was and precisely wanted, he dragged it across the direction of the button. It was a wooden chair.

He let himself get comfortable on it and tried to ignore the fact that the darkness was his only company. He steeled his guts and befriended with it, no matter how reluctant and frightful he was feeling currently, and started reading the instructions Rockman had left for him.

-RKNT-

“Dismissed.”

All men in suits stood up and walked out from the conference room, leaving behind a certain vice-president with two assistants standing beside him.

“Bring the proposals into my office,” was all he said as the assistants bowed. Heading outside of the room with a mission in mind, he asked Blues whether there was an update of the case.

Blues confirmed, “Rockman has sent us the locations that worth investigating. It seems...” The Navi raised a brow behind the black visor. “...they’ve chosen the haunted house.”

‘If I’m not wrong, Rockman has an extreme fear for ghost. Why would they choose this establishment? Must be his operator’s doing, then,’ he thought nonchalantly.

Enzan nodded. “Then, we’ll leave the haunted house to them and start investigating other areas instead.”

-RKNT-

“Yosh! Let’s turn to page one.” Fingers gently ran over a page engraved with deliberate bumps. “ _In a different world where one stays there forever…_ ” He stopped tracing and trembled slightly. “Okay...? That’s creepy. A beginning like that in a folktale is just too disturbing… Oh well.” He continued, “ _It is also known as PW-0318 – a world that grants you a wish. One depicts that world as an unparalleled desire so powerful that it solely moves by the heart; of light, of hope and of death. Your wish will be granted once you have crossed into that world. However, there is always exceptional. If someone from another world wishes for it, with the same procedure implies from here, their wish will be granted. They will never be able to return to where they belong once they feel that their world is completed. However, on a different case, if two connected individuals from two different worlds wish the same kind of desire, the individual of the stronger desire wins and this will bring the other into their world with a limited tim…”_

He stopped reading. He felt that what he read didn’t make any sense. Sure he was once trapped in his own consciousness where Cache had built him a mind-breaking illusion where NetNavis didn’t exist and everyone he knew acted so strange and inhuman. But a world that could give you anything you want? A world where you will be trapped in forever once you feel completed? That was ridiculous, crazy and downright impossible. Yeah right, the person who wrote this folktale sounded like a real nut job. He chuckled while shaking his head in slight gaiety and disbelief. Who’d believe that?

But that odd folktale didn’t stop him from wondering. If he ever wanted something... or rather someone, he’d like a… sibling. It was a childhood wish when he was four or five. He had wanted someone who he could connect with, net-battling together, sharing laughter with each other, and experiencing everything together and… He just wanted someone to be there for him when he needed them the most. A cliché desire, but it was true.

Huh, Netto realized something. Rockman fit the bill of a sibling, but he had acted more like a nagging mother than a brother to him. Netto slipped out a chuckle. Perhaps a concerned sibling would act like how Rockman had acted when concerning him and Trill. He couldn’t help but mentioned the child Navi’s name. They were the perfect example of being brothers.

“But there’s no doubt that one Rockman is enough,” he murmured. “Two Rockman… I don’t even want to imagine what kind of terrifying disaster would lead to if there are two individuals of the same personality.” One was enough for him!

For now, he was waiting for Rockman to come back.

Ten minutes had passed by.

Fifteen minutes had passed by.

He wasn’t here yet.

 _Give him just a little bit more time,_ he thought patiently to himself.

…

He looked at his PET.

Twenty minutes had passed.

One more chance.

Thirty minutes had passed and his patience burst out.

“He’s taking too long! Maybe I should just contact Meijin-san for the information in the first place?” Netto questioned himself, second guessing his choices. Rockman would understand if he did this, right? He wouldn’t get mad at Netto, right? Why would he get mad at him in the first place? He was the one who was late for fifteen minutes! Alright, he made his decision. “I’m going to call Meijin-san! I know for a fact that he’s dang good at acquiring private information. We wouldn’t have wasted so much time on this.” Pulling out his touchpad, he immediately contacted Meijin and waited for him to accept his transmission but what had resulted from the PET were peculiar high-pitched noises and the screen turned grey to neon blue to blinding white and the changing process of the colors repeated.

…

…

…

It gave him the creep. He bit his lip, fingers frozen on its spot, waiting for something stranger to happen next. When nothing happened, he was relieved. “Um, strange, I don’t think it was supposed to do that. Why can’t it connect to Meijin-san? I’ll try to contact Papa.”

This time the screen turned completely yellow and loud screech from the PET was produced causing the boy to drop the PET and covered his ears to block the unpleasant noise from damaging his eardrums.

A while ticked by and the noises stopped, but Netto’s sense of hearing were ringing from the source. He removed his palms away from his ears after the ringing subdued. He crouched to pick up his PET and rose. It seemed that it was rebooting by itself and was back to its normal state in the blink of an eye.

The PET almost slipped out from his hands when the word “PAGE 0318” appeared across the screen. “Page 0318?” he whispered questioningly, brown eyes trailing the numbers. “Does it have any significant meaning?” He jogged his mind, retracing every word he had said and heard. Hmm? Someone did mention something similar. Could it refer to dates?

Recognition dawned on his face as he blurted out, “Rockman did say that! The daughter’s date of death: it’s 31st August… and it matches… to the screen…” He whirled and contemplated the holographic sunflowers and then switched his attention to the stack of books. Turning to the number of the page that was introduced by the flat panel, he didn’t expect this. His fingers swept the surface of the page. There wasn’t a single bump. His PET made a loud ‘ding’ sound as his attention was reverted to the screen. All of sudden, it displayed different sort of word and numbers than before, from “PAGE 0318” changed to “PRESS”. He immediately knew what it implied.

Feeling hope and anticipation crawling into his chest, he pressed the page with a slap of his palm. He jolted when a holographic blue screen appeared from the page. His eyes trained on the first line of the screen as he started reading it silently.

**_< <Project Amaterasu.EXE>>_ **

**_The heat of the sun at 31 st August 19XX was familiar and brutal. That day was they day where my dearest daughter, Himawari, passed away due to an incurable illness known as HBD. She was my only sunshine revolving in my world._ **

He gasped; fully registering what he read was Hasegawa Genkei’s journal. He couldn’t believe he had obtained such valuable information. “No way…”

**_I was devastated, depressed and lethargic. It was at the same time her birthday. Death was too cruel to snatch my daughter’s life away from me before I’ve reached my own end. But I was confident that I could bring her back into my life. I was once a man of science and morality, but I didn’t have any option and for this reason I reached my hands to the great August goddess of the sun – she is known as Amaterasu._ **

He crinkled his nose in disbelief, but continued reading nonetheless.

**_I visited to a famous temple, known as The Sun Deity Shrine to worshippers, to get my wish granted effectively. I was surprised, nonetheless, by the fact that the Sun Deity was a goddess in the form of a humonguous, alien NetNavi, whose origin was from outer space far, far away from the solar system._ **

Netto’s eyes widened. Another space alien similar like Duo? It couldn’t be…

**_She told me this: “In order to be able to reunite with your loved ones, you would have to make sacrifices – a sacrifice for one revived life, in your case.” She knew what I wanted though. “You needn’t a sacrifice if you wish not to make one. That method was an old ritual of a soul revival. All I need was your highly capable mind and your materials to make your wish come true.” I remembered her words to this day._ **

**_On that day forward, I dedicated my life on building that extraordinary machine that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Amaterasu-sama’s guidance. Finally, after 5 years, our invention was completed in 7 July, 19XX. It was today. My dream was approaching near. I was nearly in tears. Amaterasu-sama approached me and she told me this: “You shall be tested. Your existence shall be sent to a different world where your daughter exists. Once reunited with your daughter, once you feel that your life is completed, you can no longer go back to where you belong. You shall stay in that world for the rest of your remaining life; all of you, your body, your mind and your soul. That is your sacrifice. You need not to worry about your disappearance in this world. I shall replace you with a perfect duplication of yourself, a living vessel I might say. Now, do you wish to retreat or do you wish to proceed?”_ **

**_I asked her to give me ten minutes in my own privacy, so that I’m able to record all the conversation I had with her here, so that this last message of mine would reach to the people who were about to discover about my secret, about the machine, about the paradise I were about to be sent to, about Amaterasu-sama’s fateful existence._ **

**_I am Professor Hasegawa Genkei and I am ready to meet my daughter from the other side._ **

The journal, which served as Genkei’s last message, ended there. He stared in daze. What… exactly had he read? What sort of connection this message had with the case they were currently investigating? What was going on? Was this some kind of joke?

If it was some kind of joke, it’d be the worst, longest and terrible joke he had ever seen in one message. Not to mention that it’d be a joke he wouldn’t be able to understand even if he forced himself to read it over and over. Netto shook his head, pressing his lips in contemplation. Now was not the time to be questioning things that would overlap with question per question.

He kept a copy of the journal just in case if he needed it for something. Like a type of evidence or something of a reminder, he guessed.

“But that didn’t explain the Dimensional Area in the amusement park,” he reminded himself, skeptical. Even knowing this, they were going circles. “No wait, I think I’m going somewhere…” Netto’s eyes scrolled to the holographic message once again and compared it to the folktales. “He mentioned Amaterasu, over and over… could it be a passphrase for the secret door’s access…?” The boy hadn’t tried it. He might as well as try.

Oh, there was a holographic keyboard for it too! Cool albeit strange. He felt like touching the air, which basically means nothing but space. He tested touching a syllable. Hey, it worked. The sensor seemed to be detecting to his touch.

“A-M-A-T-E-R-A-S-U. There we go.” After pressing enter, the sunflowers turned from yellow to green, slowly dragging open a passage from the left side of the wall with a slight quiver from the snail-like movement. “Oh, it worked. Hey, it _worked_! I can’t believe it! I should contact Rockman!” He grabbed his PET and cheered, “Rockman! I did it! I found a way for us to get inside!”

The lack of response had Netto tried again, hoping for some differences. “Rockman, I said it worked. Can’t you hear me?” No answer. “ _Huh._ The connection’s probably pretty bad. I should try that again later,” Netto noted disinterestedly with a shrug of his shoulders as he made his way into the passage that seemed to glow aquamarine blue.

The farther he was away from the dark room, the smaller it seemed the door to be as if the light of the passage had swallowed the door whole.

As he travelled deeper, staircases were introduced. But unlike the usual staircases, these were connected downstairs, upstairs and sometimes led to horizontal paths. He couldn’t believe how many stairs he had to walk on today. He was in a literal maze of freaking stairs.

When he arrived in a horizontal path, the space seemed bigger in size and the walls weren’t empty like the previous ones. This time, tons of pictures could be seen hanging on the walls. He passed by one and stopped to look at it. The picture contained a man and a girl.

The man looked the same age as his dad, as if he was in his mid 20s and the girl looked like she was five years old. “Is that Genkei-san and his daughter?” he asked himself. It probably was. Every picture hanging was their faces, doing different outdoor activities. They looked lively and happy.

“Greetings, child of man.”

The brunet jumped violently and turned to the booming voice, so foreign and tone preternatural, that had abruptly announced.

The voice belonged to a female Navi, whose design and feature was out of this world’s standard. She had an unearthly vibe like Duo. For a few seconds, she shone extremely bright like the sun, but apparently it was her helmet, full of lengthy golden thorns; the midst of the thorns connected with a jagged halo had made that kind of impression in the boy’s mind. When compared to Rockman’s height, she was an eye-blinding giant that he had to crane his head up to take a better look at her with his arms hovering over his eyes from the brightness. The inside of her smiling, slanted eyes were colored with soft neon blue and an elegant smile was presented.

“W-who are you?” He silently cursed at the stutter in his voice. _How did his sight miss someone of her size and brightness?_ He felt incredibly threatened by her unavoidably humongous size.

She had her dainty fingers, which could easily _squash_ him like an ant, covered her lips as if the gesture was habitual. “Rude child. You ask of my identity yet you don’t offer yours?”

 _Ah._ “S-sorry, you just appear so suddenly. I’m Netto Hikari. What’s yours?”

“Well, your kinds call me Amaterasu.”

Netto pursed his lips. It wasn’t exactly surprising that he would meet her anytime sooner. After all, she was directly involved with Hasegawa Genkei and probably to the ‘Dimensional Area’ case as well. The latter’s case seemed insignificant compared to the former now that he delved deeper into Hasegawa’s secret. But the better question in his head: Was she a friend or a foe? She was outside of the Net for goodness’ sake!

‘Does that mean this place’s coated with layers of Dimensional Area?’ Netto theorized in his mind.

She giggled softly and the interjection broke his line of thoughts. “I’m neither your friend, nor your foe,” she remarked, as if reading his mind.

“How did–”

“Your body language is easily perceived, dear child,” she pointed out. When Netto didn’t reply, she lightly said, “You have questions. Don’t waste my time and do ask away.”

She was friendlier than he expected? Appearance could be deceiving, but he still had to watch his own back.

“Oh, um, the whole amusement park is installed with something similar to Dimensional Area. Do you know who did that?”

“Dimensional Area?” queried the NetNavi, as if the term was foreign to her. “Please clarify your statement.”

He raised a brow. Was she living under a rock? “It allows NetNavis and viruses to physically appear in the real world when Dimensional Area is activated,” he explained. “It acts like a bridge for them to cross into the real world. Does that make sense?”

“You’ve explained them wonderfully, child. So that’s the term you humans use: Dimensional Area,” she responded, nodding her head before looking at him to answer his previous question: “Well, a child younger than you did that.”

“What!?”

“To be more specific, a child visited my shrine and made a wish in order to be able to spend quality time together with her Navi in the real world. I saw no harm into that, so I granted the innocent child’s wish and gave her guidance to where they could seek for entertainment and quality time together. And the newly upgraded amusement park is the place.”

This was so comical that he’d cry for real. So what now? Case closed? Change of objective?

“And this wish… her wish will go on forever?”

“No, it has time limitation. I granted them a year.”

He remembered something about an exchange. He froze. _A sacrifice._ “… You don’t look like the type to give someone what they wanted without something in exchange,” he accused with narrowed eyes. “What did she offer you? Better yet: what deal did you make with her?”

The air suddenly felt terrifyingly heavy. “That is confidential between _us_ , child,” she hissed sharply, her tone ice cold like the color of her eyes. She didn’t take accusation kindly. “You have no right to know what is in our deal.”

Netto glanced down, his face slightly pale with fear. She didn’t offer something that was life-threatening… did she? Not moving his head, his eyes tracked her every movement as he shifted his feet away from her, wary about what harm she would do to him. There were many possibilities.

Upon noticing the change of expression and withdrawn behavior from the boy, she spoke after letting out a sigh, “I apologize for my harsh tone, Hikari Netto. I was the one who allowed you to speak your mind up but I lost my temper instead. It is not a becoming behavior.” She bowed. “If this will give you any consolation, my deal with her is not threatening her life or well-being. I’m a deity whose purpose is to assist individuals who worship me. I’m not that of a heartless being as you’ve wrongly imagined.”

Netto formed a half-hearted smile as he laughed awkwardly, his fingers rubbing the back of his head – a habitual action that he tended doing when he tried to hide his anxiety despite either being slightly relieved or guilty, or both. “I’m sorry too. It’s just that I don’t know you very well, and compared to Rockman, you’re a gigantic NetNavi and has a scary personality so I assume the worst. For a second, I thought you might trample me with your palm.”

Amaterasu’s eye twitched. “Such brutal honesty. But I’ve expected it from children.” She sighed. “Please rest assured, I won’t harm any living being unless absolute necessary.”

He hoped so.

“As a compensation for my behavior towards you, I’ll answer any of your questions that does not involve with revealing the insides of any deal. So, do you have anything in mind you want to be answered?”

“Three questions actually.” _Here goes nothing._ “Does the real Hasegawa Genkei no longer exist in this world?”

“Both his body and soul are no longer attached into this world.”

“I… see.”

“The ‘vessel’ that you’ve created in order to replace Genkei-san’s existence, is it going to stay here as long as you want it to?”

“No, it does not work that way. As long as the real person is not harmed in any way, the vessel will continue to live. However, once the real body has reached to its end, either naturally or by accident, the vessel will follow accordingly.”

‘Seriously? The question that I thought might have some difficulty in gaining answers from her is that easy?’ he thought, incredulous.

“Last question: Tell me the real purpose of the machine you and Genkei-san have invented together, behind that door you are currently blocking.”

“You are a clever and perceptive child, Hikari Netto…” With a sharp smile, her towering figure moved to the side and revealed a giant door – the only door he had seen throughout his journey in the passage of stairs. “I will tell you the purpose of it, and only you will know about it, no one else.”

“And I’m not supposed to tell anyone about this?”

“Sooner or later they will figure it out,” she asserted cryptically. “However, what fate has in store for you is a different, individualistic matter. Please, do come in.” She extended her palm out toward the door, which slowly opened, leading to the final answer Netto was searching for.

-RKNT-

“There seems to be no abnormalities around this vicinity, Enzan-sama,” Blues, after running everything entirely, affirmed.

“Have you double-checked?”

“Yes, without a doubt, there is nothing here.”

“Inform Netto and Rockman about the situation. Tell them we’ll make a move to the next area nearby," said Enzan as he headed toward their next destination.

“Affirmative,” Blues obeyed. He typed out a message and delivered the e-mail to Rockman’s communicator. He could send it to the PET, but it was more effective this way.

Soon after they arrived to the next area, Enzan scanned his surrounding with sharp blue eyes concentrating to locate any suspicious movement, sound, item. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“Blues, run this area’s system.”

“I’m on it.”

The timing clashed as a familiar voice hollered, “Enzan-kun, Blues!”

“ _Rockman?_ ” both said operator and Navi echoed. The holographic figure of a small blue Navi appeared in front of Enzan and Blues, his expression was full-blown panic.

“I can’t contact Netto-kun!”

Just one but simple sentence from the responsible Navi had them figured out that big trouble was ahead of them.

-RKNT-

Rockman had landed on Internet City for some minutes now. He gained some important, yet interesting information regarding Hasegawa family for a hefty price. He hoped Netto wouldn’t mind losing some zeni worth two months of his allowance. He negotiated for the lowest price too. Well, if he wasn’t so insistent on rejecting the idea of going to either Papa or Meijin-san for their help, they’d find the information much quicker. So, that was on him.

But oh boy, the thought of losing many chances of dining in MaHa Ichiban would make his operator’s blood boil absolutely red. He could already visualize it. ‘I’m so sorry, Netto-kun,’ Rockman thought, slightly regretful.

It was time for him to head back. When he tried to contact his operator, it couldn’t reach the other for some strange reason. He headed back to his PET, but the path was blocked, his access to the PET was closed off completely, as if thick layers of firewall had prevented him from going further to his own PET.

“Netto-kun? Can you hear me? Netto-kun!”

Once again, he was met with no respond.

Agitation and worry started surfacing from the bottom his heart to his face as he bit his lower lip, suddenly feeling a sense of urgency. He knew his operator was up to do something reckless out there. He had told him to be _especially_ mindful!

No. Netto must have coincidentally _triggered_ something that caused the connection between them cut or there might be a culprit from the haunted house that had generated electrical interference or something much worse. For all he knew his operator’s life might be in unspeakable danger as he stood here doing absolutely nothing.

He got to find help quick!

A message went to his communicator just as he was about to contact Blues. His eyes widened. Speak of the devil.

_No abnormalities on building one. We are on our way to the next establishment. I’ve sent you an attachment of our next location._

_< Attachment>_

_–Blues._

They were on their way to the next building, and this was his next line of course.

‘Wait for me, Netto-kun.’

 

-RKNT-

**Amaterasu.EXE**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to draw a Navi by their standard. But I have tried to make her as alien-looking as possible. She still looks humanoid.


	6. Choose Your Fate, But Wait, It’s Just You, All Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rockman, Blues and Enzan investigated while Netto, fallen into the same darkness, was dealing with some problems he hoped that all were lies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for anticipating the next update! Here you go, my lovelies!

“Hold on.” Enzan, with his eyes closed, had his hand rubbing on his forehead. The blatant stress and annoyance gummed on his face buried the slightest concern he had for his brown-haired friend. “What do you mean you can’t contact Netto?” pressed the young vice president of IPC with a slightly pissed tone.

“We’ve found something that might lead to the case from the haunted house but we need more clues for access. I headed to Internet City and gathered ample of information as I could involving the case. When I finished the job, I tried to head back to the PET, but some invisible force blocked me out and something messed with my communicator to the PET,” Rockman summarized, recalling back the previous investigations.

“So what you’re saying is that both you and Netto have found something, but you didn’t consider informing us beforehand?” he said with an accusatory tone, which was clearly discerned by both Navis’ auditory perceptions.

Rockman flinched. _Busted._

“That isn’t like you, Rockman,” Blues interjected, knowing all too well about Rockman’s character.

The small blue Navi felt even smaller when two intensive pairs of eyes scrutinized him, judging him and his action.

Enzan narrowed his eyes; his mind attached one connection to another connection and when the puzzle was pieced together, he surmised, “Blues’ correct. That _isn’t_ like you. I suspect that Netto must have told you not to very insistently, because there’s no danger yet. Am I right?”

Oh, Enzan was absolutely correct about guessing his rival’s choice of words.

Rockman looked down, unable to answer of how right the other was as he felt another wave of shame washed over him.

“That heedless blockhead!” spat the NetSavior as he closed his eyes once more in exasperation.

“What’s your next move, Enzan-sama?” Blues inquired his operator, waiting for his next order dutifully.

Fingers on his lips, the other suggested to his Navi, “Try to contact Netto’s PET.”

“Yes, sir.”

…

…

“Anything?”

“He’s not picking up.”

‘So it’s not only Rockman who can’t contact that idiot.’ Enzan furrowed his brows. “Contact Hikari-hakase. I want to speak with him.” He wanted the older Hikari to be aware of his wooden-headed son’s situation. If possible, he might be able to figure out what caused the interference they had experienced from Netto’s PET and fixed the problem in the process.

 “On it.”

…

…

“Enzan-sama, we are connected.” A holographic display popped up from the PET, with Enzan facing the person inside the video call eye-to-eye.

The professor expressed his curiosity. “I didn’t expect you to make contact very soon, Enzan-kun. We haven’t had anything from our side yet. Did you find anything from your investigation?” His brown eyes turned into worry when he noticed Rockman’s holographic presence and no sign of the brunet anywhere near the frame. His son’s Navi’s expression told him something wasn’t right. “Where’s Netto? Did something happen to him?” asked the professor, expecting one of them to answer. Even the dad had suspected after a second glance.

Enzan took the first move. “In fact, yes, I’m here about that idi– Netto, Hikari-hakase,” he skillfully revised. “It appears that we are unable to get ahold of Netto through his PET communicator. Could you find the solution to the problem?”

The bespectacled man didn’t reply. Instead, his eyes sharpened in all seriousness, as his fingers began pressing against the massive keyboards in flurry movements. “Enzan-kun,” he addressed, spectacled eyes gluing its focus straight to the large working monitor as his fingers continued typing furiously. “You should get going to where Netto is and contact the NetPolice for backup just in case you need it. I’ll do what I can to fix the matter.”

Enzan nodded in affirmation.

The video call ended.

“Our next destination is a few blocks away, Enzan-sama. The route to your left is the recommended shortcut to the haunted house,” Blues updated, appearing to have everything mapped out rather efficiently.

Enzan nodded and thanked his Navi as he made haste to the targeted location. “Rockman,” he started. “Tell me every single detail of what you and Netto have found. Don’t leave out anything.”

“Un.” He didn’t have to be told twice as he began from the start.

-RKNT-

“Welcome, Hikari Netto. You are the first being, excluding for the creator and I, to have actually entered this long-hidden domain,” the sun deity sang with an ecstatic grin. With a twirl, her arms spread out as the limbs accommodated half of the room’s space. “As I mentioned before, you must have questions and I shall grant you the knowledge if you wish to know.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess…” Netto rubbed his head. One thing about Amatersu bothered him though. He couldn’t understand her motive or behavior for doing this. He didn’t have the exact word for it. Maybe the word was “welcoming”? It wasn’t like she was obligated to help him. He heaved in and out, readying his mind. “Amaterasu?” he started, his eyes set on hers.

“Yes, child?”

Staring straight into her eyes agitated him. “Why… what’s your purpose? I mean, why would you do this…? Uh, what I mean is…”

She held a palm, stopping Netto from embarrassing himself further. “I comprehend that you are conflicted against my action of assisting you.” Her smile turned tender. “Hasegawa Genkei and I have made a gamble. He had wagered that if the first individual who entered here was a child or under 18 years old, I would have to be a wonderful, accommodating host to them as long as they are in the domain. As for mine, if the individual was not as what he had guessed, I would…” She paused and diverted her eyes from his. Her pause and her action had hidden meaning and it made him unconsciously bob his throat. “… Let’s just say it depends all on their behaviors. I’ll consider playing ‘nice’ if they have acceptable attitudes.”

He let out a strained laugh. Listening to her speak mentally drained him. He was awfully relieved that his current line of safety depended on his age, which was pretty lucky inasmuch as he was considered an underage person.

“In advance of answering your questions into new topics, I would like to know what you think of this place beforehand,” she proclaimed randomly, looking down at him with her soft neon blue eyes.

“Uh, why?”

“I am interested in your opinion, Hikari Netto.”

Disbelief mixed with curiosity, his cocoa-colored eyes met hers before tearing away, contemplating hard on her words. No matter how obliviously ignorant Netto was at most times, when compared from his height to her size and now to the chamber’s size, he felt incredibly self-aware of every single thing, of how everything around him seemed to be larger than him, of how disconnected this place was from the outside world, of how incredibly _alone_ he would have felt if he was without his partner.

_Rockman… Come back soon…_

He then wondered about Genkei’s situation. The man who lived here and worked on the machine in this space of solitary for five whole years, whose dedicated effort granted him the fulfillment of ‘reuniting’ with his daughter – a happy ending – despite of how impossible it all sounded. At least, the man wasn’t exactly lonely. He had Amaterasu by his side, working together on that machine.

“Well, go on. I’m eager to know of your opinion, Hikari Netto,” she urged, noticing his silence.

“It’s an awesome basement; you could almost do anything and put everything in here. This place is huge.”

“I sense a ‘however’ from you. Do continue.”

“… It’s also a pretty lonely place for one person to accommodate all of their needs or even make this place as a workspace. Living in this huge space, but with no one in here except myself, I would surely go insane if I had no one I could talk to,” he asserted. That was true. Most human beings were social creatures, including Netto. If he was trapped in here, he’d find a way out or die trying.

“It’s also kind of bland and boring.” He squeezed his eyes to observe the area from his standing spot. “I couldn’t point a single thing that could entertain anyone! There is no musical instrument, no trace of dying potted plants, and not even a TV! Not only that; where did he get his food and how did he take care of his ‘businesses’? This secret base’s kind of the exact opposite of the amusement park he had built. Does he have no hobby at all?”

She didn’t answer any of his questions, instead she commented: “Such straightforward and candor remarks, yet splendid observational point of view.” The deity added knowingly, “I’ve seen humans conducting various activities to satiate their boredom. Although, I’ve never seen him entertaining himself with other activities, except with one goal in his mind of completing the machine.”

“I see…” There was another detail that Netto noticed about this place. “Is there any special purpose for this huge space?”

“Hasegawa Genkei was always feeling disorientated, pain in his chest, wanting to vomit acid whenever he was situated in dark, confined spaces. What’s the term you humans used…?” The left side of her head rested on her palm in a thinking manner. “Ah yes, he told me he was claustrophobic. He clearly said that building a base this huge would ease his insecurities and all the symptoms above. Bright and blue color calmed him; hence, all you see is that color of the lights starting from the passage to this domain. You humans are strange though.”

Okay… That information was more or less personal for sharing; at least to him. One thing for certain, she knew an awful amount of details about Hasegawa Genkei.

“Can I look around?” asked the boy hesitantly, fearing that he might incur another short episode of unanticipated wrath from the goddess.

“You have my permission to explore this domain for the day, Hikari Netto. However, I _strongly_ advise you to not touch the machine. Keep two meters distance away from the machine.”

He nodded. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” Following that, he walked over to the machine’s location. It was easy to identify where it was, because it was as huge as Amaterasu and it was the only machine resided in this very ground.

Across the machine, papers scattered on the cold ground caught his attention. It was near the working tables. All items on the tables were arranged systematically, only that area was messy. It seemed out of place. Without a second thought, he went over and collected all the papers up as he lightly tapped them a few times against the table’s surface to neaten them together. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed a familiar item. He took a closer inspection and gaped – it was a PET! Or at least it looked like one to him. It got the screen and all that jazz.

He left the papers on the table and grabbed the technology as he fiddled it with his curious hands. He reckoned that he had seen it before. It was an ancient model he saw once at SciLab. He heard from Papa that this PET’s model was rejected, because the lifespan battery of the PET wasn’t able to sustain longer for more than four hours, not to mention that it had many technical flaws. In the end, the team had to restart from stage one and redesign a new model. The second attempt was a solid success as it served as the PET’s first generation for the masses’ utilization.

But something was odd. The _PET_ appeared _odd_ to him. If this model was rejected, the completion of the design wouldn’t be pursued, but this PET looked as if it was ready to be used, as if the design was completed. Maybe Genkei completed the design? _It wasn’t impossible for the professor_ , he thought. He was able to complete that gigantic machine with his own bare hands, tools and the assistance of a deity Navi.

Maybe… He pressed the ‘ON’ button, but there was no respond. He saw a glimpse of light flashed from the screen but then it turned black. No change. It seemed to him that it ran out of battery. What a disappointment. He left the PET besides the papers he had gathered as he turned around to stroll toward the machine.

Stopping in front of it with roughly two meters distance like she suggested, he had to restrain himself from indulging his curiosity – touching all over the machine with his two hands. He was warned not to touch the machine and he wasn’t so stupid to disobey that direct warning especially when he had a looming figure watching his every move from his behind.

Now that he was looking at the machine right in front of him, and recalling the mysterious sentences in the Braille books’ first page as well as the professor’s message, he had so many questions in his head that wanted to be answered.

“So, you granted Genkei-san’s wish by using this machine, huh?” spewed the brunet, unafraid of stating the obvious. “Is that the only purpose of the machine and no other else? I believe it must have other functions. There’s no way it’s created for that one purpose.”

Instead of getting annoyed with the boy’s rambling, the giant Navi was amused. “Well, if that’s what you think, then you are on the correct path.” She explained further, “This machine, built by Hasegawa Genkei and I, has the capabilities of manipulating time and space.” Forecasting Netto’s forthcoming interruption of her elucidation, she quickly noted, “Before you declare that it is a time machine, I would not deny that fact, because it is functioned to be one.”

The boy closed his lips, taking the hint to never interrupt her when she was speaking. Got it, note it, silence now.

She continued, “Despite having the capabilities of sending either humans or Navis to the future or past, it is not limited to only that area, as you hypothesized before. The machine is able to warp more than one individual to any dimension and return them back here with a time limitation. Moreover, it is able to bring beings from the other side of the world, without any cost of creating another parallel world, into our world.”

He absorbed all the information with a serious look on his face. “I get the gist of your explanation. But why use “PW-0318” as the main clue? It’s mentioned in the first page of the Braille books, if I’m not decoding it wrong,” he prodded, taking this chance to get his curiosity be completely sated. _And I wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for that ‘strange occurrence’ happening to my PET,_ was left unsaid.

“I see you are attentive toward that part of the detail. It’s a ‘memorial’, as what Hasegawa Genkei had told me. PW stands for Parallel World and 0318 was his daughter’s date of birth and death.”

Netto drew out an “Ohhh” from his lips. Rockman didn’t mention the date of birth, only the latter. He figured that out when he read Hasegawa’s message.

“Such a sentimental man,” she said fondly, shaking her head. “Oh, one more important note to tell, the machine synchronizes with emotional desire. That gauge,” she pointed out, her index finger stretched out to the huge clock-like segmentation that was attached on the machine, “determines the emotional desire within an individual of this world.”

He was about to raise more questions concerning the current subject, but it came to a halt when the large graceful figure spun toward the door’s entrance.

Nothing was there and she was still as she was deadly silent.

“What’s wrong?” he asked worryingly, breaking the silence.

“Intruders,” she glowered lowly as she proceeded to the door. “I shall deal with it.”

Netto followed her, looking up. “What do you mean intruders?”

“I detect presences entering this establishment.”

He stopped. His mind started whirling its gears. The haunted house was closed due to under construction, but it was just a guise to cloak the machine from the rest of the world. Enzan and Blues were assigned in this case as well. _They_ were the intruders.

Panicked, he yelled, “Wait! The intruders, they might be my friends!”

“I care not if they are your friends.” She was moving ahead from him faster than his lower limbs could catch up to her. He realized she wasn’t moving by walking but hovering in air the entire time; her feet almost touched the ground, giving it an impersonation of walking like most would do.

“But he’s the same age as me!” he argued.

“Even if he is, why should I be concerned about that?” She stopped, facing him in bewilderment.

He lamely reasoned, “Because you make a bet with Genkei-san that you will be a nice host for those people whose age were under eighteen and as long as they are in the domain?”

“… It applies once, solely on you and they are not in the domain yet.”

Huh, she did mention that. Remembering her unspoken threat, his panicked mind screeched at him, ‘ _She’s going to hurt Enzan and Blues because the bet was applied only once!’_

“ _Don’t hurt them!_ ” he voiced out fiercely, brown eyes burning into hers.

“From whose claim that violence is my current action?” she asked, honestly confused.

“Eh? I-I thought…” It wasn’t?

Feet contacting the surface, she sank one of her knees on the ground as she leveled her unearthly eyes to his emotional one. “Please calm yourself, Hikari Netto. Your irrational mind leads you to thinking false impression of my impending action,” she asserted gently. “I may have forgotten to restart the puzzle for the next challenger. Accordingly, I’m merely closing their access to this domain and providing them some challenges on their path to the entrance. They have to figure out all the puzzles by themselves in order to enter here. One thing to note, seeing that you are the first arrival, you have the privilege of earning a free entrance.”

“Eh?” he gawked, his face crimson from shame. He didn’t catch the rest of the words from the deity Navi’s mouth in view of the fact he was absolutely flustered of his own careless judgment. “Y-you aren’t going to hurt them?”

Letting out an amused chuckle, she rose up and hovered once again. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”

He felt like an utter idiot. This was the second time that he got the wrong end of the stick about her. Dropping his head low, he sighed, and very apologetically, he said, “I’m sorry, Amaterasu.”

“That is quite alright, Hikari Netto. Trust is not something that is easily earned,” she assured clemently. “Stay here, explore all you want but I repeat, don’t touch any part of the machine. I will return back soon.”

He watched her disappear from his sight. So what now?

It was just him all alone in the room for now.

Maybe he should contact Rockman. Or Papa. Or Meijin-san. But previously the PET wasn’t working like its standard operation. He suspected the result might be similar as antecedent occurrence, or worse. Hesitantly, he attempted to contact one of the mentioned names.

There was no respond from the technology. He frowned. Something was definitely wrong with the PET’s internal system. Probably. If that was the case, he should visit his dad for him to fix the problem after he finished his venture inside the professor’s secret base.

Putting the PET back to its holster, he tapped his foot.

_What to do. What to do._

Turning back to the machine, he wouldn’t dare to mess around with such dangerous unit as much as curiosity begged him to play with it. Restricting his inner compulsion, he calmly approached it and stopped at a promised distance as he sat down. He gathered his legs near the chest with two of his arms wrapped around the lower limbs. Resting his head on his wrapped arms, he stared at the machine as there was nothing to do.

Doing nothing made his mind meander, ‘Who really is Amaterasu? Is she really an alien goddess in the form of a giant NetNavi that could grant any wish? Is she related to Duo? I forget to ask her if all those are true… and how is she able to appear in the real world so naturally?’ So many questions floated around his head. ‘But do any of those questions really matter now? She doesn’t have any bad intent so far. She’s kind enough to even allow me to explore here freely and explain things when I ask, especially about that machine.’

His fingers twitched. Despite the constant reminder of denying his person the satisfaction of trifling around with the machine, he really, really _wanted_ to mess with it, but it wouldn’t be wise of him to do so. If he did and something went disastrously wrong, like being sent to a different world where there was no one that recognized him; it was likelihood that he couldn’t go back to his own time.

No, no, he shouldn’t think of something that would backfire on him. He shut his eyes and counted to ten as he opened his eyes with a clear mind.

Gazing ahead up-close, the machine had a hypnotizing glow that flickered ever so gently; aquamarine was its primary hue and staring at it was soothing. The light was beckoning him to let his mind relax. Feeling unusually drowsy, his half-lidded eyes began to close, as darkness kissed his sight.

…..

….

…

..

.

Deep, deep into an ocean of blackness, two sets of brown eyes were slowly revealed, appearing to be disorientated.

_Where… am I?_

…

_I know this place._

_I’ve been here. Just yesterday’s dream._

_…_

_Why am I here again?_

Mind drew to a complete blank, there was no reason or purpose he couldn’t think of being here.

He noticed that although he couldn’t see anything in this pitch black of emptiness, he could move his arms, legs and the positions of his entire body. Intense relief washed over him.

Mindlessly, he puttered over to… nowhere.

Why did he feel like walking?

When he no longer felt in control, feeling extremely lethargic all of sudden, his legs… something was pulling them, something was steering the strings of his movements.

He couldn’t – **_shouldn’t_** – fight back.

Why did he think of that?

His mind was too exhausted to think straight, too unfocused to care.

Still, he kept walking, walking and endlessly walking.

**_Tired?_ **

He heard a voice breathed in his ears, _both ears_. He winced at the closeness.

_A voice whispers close to both ears? How is that possible?_

Slowly he dragged his eyes to his left, no one; nothing was there.

He gulped, his heartbeats drumming uncontrollably with anticipated fear.

Then, _something_ had to be waiting for him from the right side.

Feet still moving, he forced his shaky eyes to swirl to his right.

 _Nothing_ – mind relieved – _was there._

**_Don’t you want your wish to be granted?_ **

He yelped, although inaudibly. His voice box couldn’t produce a slightest noise as if he was muted. His voice wasn’t his; he didn’t own it. He was a prisoner here, he realized. He was talking from his head the whole time.

 _Who ‘are’ you?_ He tried to converse with the unrecognizable voice, as he looked up, struggling to confirm the voice’s location.

**_I ask you first._ **

Netto sensed stubbornness from the voice. It asked a question that strongly implied ‘give’, but it felt like ‘ _take’_ ; selfish; greedy. It wouldn’t answer his questions, only wanted his replies.

_I don’t know. I don’t have anything to wish for. My life is complete._

**_Candor suits you; lies, however, are ugly,_** it crooned sickeningly sweet, appearing to be talkative the longer it spoke. ** _Your life isn’t complete, not yet. You desired ‘one’. You simply abandoned it, a long time ago. Don’t you want it to be your reality?_**

_I…_

**_Don’t you?_ **

_Yes._

**_Tell me. What did you wish for?_ **

_But you know._

**_I want to hear it from your voice and soul; clear, concise and in the sincerest form of your heart’s desire. Tell me._** It demanded.

“I… I wish for a…” _Sibling._

**_Yes?_ **

“Sibling. I wished for a sibling.”

**_…_ **

**_Incorrect procedure. That was a past’s wish. I want your present’s wish. Try again, from your voice and soul._ **

“I wish for a sibling.”

**…**

**_I have received an acceptance from the original. Your wish shall be granted,_** it affirmed gleefully to him.

**_Your salvation._ **

**_Your desire._ **

**_Your happy end._ **

The voice grew more and more sinister and monstrous in volume as each word was growled in a way that an angered beast would howl its delight for bloodlust.

**_Your sacrifice._ **

Covered in cold sweat, Netto _feared_ for his life. His legs made no sign of stopping its trekking, but his pace was unrushed, calm, smooth, in contrast of what he was feeling.

The growling shortly stopped.

The voice left him alone.

He didn’t know that for certain.

With a literal blink of the eyes, everything went white, blinding and it provoked Netto to squeeze his eyes shut at the drastic change of lighting. This felt familiar to him, but for some reason, it was intense.

Unbeknownst to him, he stopped walking. He stopped thinking about that demanding voice.

He tried squinting his eyes open a few times for adjustment. When his eyes were comfortable enough with the intrusively bright color, he opened them and looked ahead.

He took a step back, startled to see a boy of his age stood in front of him.

He _knew_ him. It was the very same boy in his previous dream.

His name was Saito.

This time though, Saito looked happy; very _happy_ to see him.

“Hello, Netto-kun,” he said with a grin. His soothing voice rang into Netto’s ears.

He couldn’t help but let out a smile along with small laughs. “Hi?”

The boy charged forward, arms enveloping around him. He squeezed Netto as if he was his only lifeline.

Saito hugged him in the previous dream as well. Whilst the first embrace he received was full of remorse, grief and sentimentality, this gesture was overflowing with self-reassurance, felicity and an underlying emotion he couldn’t quite distinguish.

“I can’t express how happy I am that you change your mind!”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Netto answered honestly.

Saito removed himself from Netto with a huge smile on his face, his hands holding Netto’s arms with a slight squeeze of complete conviction. “Don’t worry about it, Netto-kun. What comes next is a pleasant surprise you will find very enjoyable. You don’t have to worry about a thing,” he returned, the sureness in his voice ignited the curiosity within the said person, making Netto wonder what kind of surprise was waiting for him.

He liked surprises.

“Okay then,” the brunet replied without a beat.

Saito chuckled. “Come on, I’ll lead you, Netto-kun.”

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”

-RKNT-

Venturing inside the haunted house once again was not an enjoyable experience for Rockman’s mental state. He couldn’t get used to the menacing atmosphere emitting from the building’s interior where incorporeal beings could suddenly jump at them, at any corner, at any time, at any second from the moment they entered. Nothing happened before, but it would from now on!

“Rockman, stop hiding in that little corner and come out from Enzan-sama’s PET,” Blues admonished, receiving a muffled protest from his rival. “At the very least tell us which door your operator is in since we are ten steps closer from arriving at the hallways.”

The blue Navi perked his head up. “Netto-kun is inside the fifth door to the right. You will find the door open,” answered the blue Navi almost automatically. They were a few steps getting closer to Netto!

“I am inside,” Enzan said.

“Netto-kun!” Rockman projected out as a holographic frame, scouting with eagle-like eyes for a certain brunet.

“Thank the ruler of the UraNet. I thought he would never leave,” muttered Blues, shaking his head helplessly.

Enzan shot his Navi an amused glance since it was unusual to seeing Blues getting his feather’s ruffled.

Rockman turned to his left, and to his right. He double-checked his left and right again. When he couldn’t find a certain operator occupying in this dark room, an uneasy weight of stone dropped onto his stomach. No, he should have noticed it in advance that if his operator was indeed present, he would have enthusiastically greeted Rockman or even baselessly reproached Enzan for taking his time loitering around just to irk him.

Both operator and the red Navi shared a glance, noticing the odd silence from the other.

“Netto must have proceeded to a different area by then. He couldn’t have gone too far,” guessed Enzan as logically as possible when it came to predicting his rival’s actions. “Anyone with his short-circuited patience refuses to stay at one place for so long. It can’t be help.”

“Proceed to a different area... and not too far…” Rockman sported a thoughtful frown as he headed over to their unsolved discovery. “Enzan-kun, you’re right. Netto-kun could have gone to somewhere else around this establishment: inside the secret base. He must have figured out the password for the access.”

“Based on what evidence that Netto actually went inside the hidden passage?” Enzan argued in disbelief.

What was it that Netto told him…? His green eyes lit up in cognizance as he raised his index finger, proving a point. “Based on the evidence of the heavy dust that is collected on the ground. Look over to your right, it looked like _something_ swept the floor,” Rockman substantiated after recalling Netto’s words. “Pay close attention to those clumps of dust: those weren’t there when Netto-kun and I were investigating this room. All the dust was stagnant before something, like a sliding-door, was moved after its activation.”

Enzan stared, clenching the bridge of his nose with two fingers as he closed his eyes. Letting a heavy sigh out, he said, “We have to start finding for the clues then.”

“The button is over here.” Rockman floated beside the books that were attached with a red button. His hologram lighted the device, helping Enzan to spot it without difficulty.

The vice president of IPC pressed the button as nine rows of sunflowers popped up from on top of the books.

“The firewall of the system is impossibly thick and its complexity is far too foreign for us to look or access for a hint. But the books are served as clues,” Rockman reminded, “Making its purpose much more sense that Netto-kun must have utilized the books to unlock the access into the hidden passage.”

“It’s Braille,” observed Enzan, feeling an undesirable, upcoming throb in his head. “Netto can read Braille?”

“Not until I sent him an instruction before I left, it seems.” In the back of his mind, the Navi was feeling oddly proud that his operator at least had basic grasps of the rarely-used codes, but he somewhat regretted sending his operator the instruction that resulted his unexpected disappearance.

‘Netto _so_ owes me for all these unnecessary troubles,’ Enzan thought irritably. “Blues, translate every word.”

“Understood, Enzan-sama,” replied the red Navi, immediately starting his task.

“I’ll help translate half of them,” offered Rockman, watching Blues doing all the work made his agitation rise for doing nothing.

“Thanks. That would be a huge help.”

Rockman began assisting Blues, focusing on the divided task. He needed to finish this quick. His operator’s safety was on their hands. The faster they worked, the better the chances they had of finding his operator, hopefully safe and sound.

The process took less than thirty minutes for the red and blue duo to translate over five hundred pages of Braille into readable contents without missing a page. They moved over to let Enzan peruse the freshly translated materials.

The white-and-black haired boy started from the beginning, the first page:

**_In a different world where one stays there forever, it is also known as PW-0318 – a world that grants you a wish. One depicts that world as an unparalleled desire so powerful that it solely moves by the heart; of light, of hope and of death. Your wish will be granted once you have crossed into that world. However, there is always exceptional. If someone from another world wishes for it, with the same procedure implies from here, their wish will be granted. They will never be able to return to where they belong once they feel that their world is completed. However, on a different case, if two connected individuals from two different worlds wish the same kind of desire, the individual of the stronger desire wins and this will bring the other into their world with a limited time. For the entire results end with a fine tune, like a fairytale, a happily ever after ending is sought endlessly._ **

“Are you both sure this is the exact translation? Every line sounds like a garbage of bogus to me,” he said dubiously.

“Absolutely certain, Enzan-sama.”

“Un. I have translated a few pages for Netto-kun and the results are similar to the second translation,” Rockman concurred with his rival’s statement.

Enzan proceeded to the second page, third page, fourth page, fifth pages and stopped skimming the rest. The more he scrolled the pages, the more ridiculous the materials were becoming to be. “Hell, what exactly am I reading...” he grumbled.

“May I interrupt you for a moment, Enzan-sama?”

“What is it, Blues?”

“Don’t you think the word ‘PW-0318’ is too specific?”

Enzan hummed. It did sound _too_ specific. Meanwhile, Rockman had a suspicious feeling that he had seen and said the word before, especially the numbers. “0318... 0318...” he mumbled, fingers on his lips. He knew it was somewhat related to the case, but he couldn’t quite put his fingers on it.

‘The case, Hasegawa Family, Hasegawa Genkei, Hasegawa Himawari... _Hasegawa Himawari._ ’ He raised his head up with eyes broadened in epiphany.

It was clear to him now.

‘31st of August: It was Hasegawa Himawari’s date of birth and… death. Is it a mere coincidence?’ To be absolutely sure, he looked for page 318 of the translated Braille.

There was no content.

Stripping the doubt away from his thought, he was determined that the newly-discovered clue had all the solutions for their next move. “I figure it out! Enzan-kun, please turn to page 0318 of the Braille books.”

“Pardon?”

“I will explain everything later,” he promised; his tone urgent. “Please do it now, Enzan-kun.”

Enzan nodded, trusting Rockman’s rational judgment. He did as he was asked. When he was presented with a blank page, the NetSavior uttered in confusion, “There is… nothing.”

“Yes, exactly. I don’t think our holographic forms could do anything about the empty page, but please try to roam your hands on the surface.”

Enzan’s cynicism was beginning to rise when nothing occurred.

“Try a bit longer? There might be result,” urged Rockman.

Enzan sighed, although he complied. Until his hands were numbing from moving them too much, and his patience tested, he exploded out through gritted teeth, “This is a waste of time!” With a substantial force originated from frustration, he slammed his fist onto the page.

“ _Ah,_ ” the three of them uttered, all eyes latching to the holographic screen.

 _That_ was new.

Three pairs of eyes were drinking the information like water. Each produced different emotions; suspicious; incredulity; worry; trepidation. And all knew one exact thing.

“You don’t think Netto would do something stupid and incredibly reckless, do you?” Enzan said with closed eyes, fingers rubbing his temple to soothe the upcoming headache.

“He will, Enzan-sama.”

“Yeah, I think we should hurry,” Rockman urged. He didn’t deny that statement, because he knew that was a fact that everyone who knew Netto will see eye to eye.

-RKNT-

“Three individuals, three levels of puzzles… From the easiest to the hardest puzzles; alpha, beta and gamma – all done and prepped.” Amaterasu headed back to the main room. “Hikari Net–”

The machine was actively functioning. She rushed over, her eyes locked at the boy who was sleeping soundly.

‘Did the boy do something to the machine?’ She diverted her attention back to it, scrutinizing. ‘No, if the machine is wrongly handled, this is not the kind of reaction it will make; on the contrary, this is the exact reaction the machine will generate presuming that the procedure is executed correctly, just like ten years ago. But that would require him to input the machine’s multiple passwords in order to properly utilize every function. He didn’t realize it, but I have thoroughly checked him – no some odd sorts of _Trojan horse_ devices in his possession.’

Squinting for inspection, she noticed a thin layer of blue luminescence covered the boy’s body. She made a light contact on the boy but instinctively retracted her hand back to her chest when strong energy of electricity coursing from the machine attacked her.

 _The machine._ She realized in silent horror. She couldn’t _interfere_ with it; even if she wanted to, she couldn’t do it. The machine and the human were now connected by a link. They were negotiating _deals_. They couldn’t be disturbed; doing it would cause the boy to be eternally lost in the empty realm of space and time, which equally meant the end of his life.

But she couldn’t watch and do nothing. Her eyes narrowed in burning determination. Unable to do a thing would be a complete disgrace of her ten thousand light-years of knowledge. She couldn’t afford to lose focus. Even if she couldn’t interfere with them, the least she could do was to sniff out the source of the anomalies.

Think – what caused this to happen? What was the trigger?

There were two ways to check its sources without touching the machine; touching it directly would result her to be zapped for the second time. She glanced over to the gauge of emotional desire. This was the first way.

‘Since Hikari Netto is currently connected with the machine, the gauge applies only to him. By the look of his state, his emotional desire is low, but it won’t be long until it reaches to its highest peak of emotional desire. If his desire is 100% maximized, this highly indicates that the deal is accepted.’

The second way was to check which world he would be sent to. She hadn’t told the boy about this part of the machine – it was attached with a small rectangular screen that revealed another world’s designation when an individual was about to be sent to the chosen destination.

She went around the machine and checked the screen.

_PW-0318._

Her eyes slightly widened. It couldn’t be… Out of millions of parallel worlds, he was sent into a world where Hasegawa Genkei settled his life with his daughter. Was this some sort of sick coincidence or… fate?

Instead of distracting herself with such useless thought, she should focus on the problem at hand instead. She was convinced that Hikari Netto didn’t tinker with the machine, yet the machine reacted by itself. The human being asleep made him physically and mentally vulnerable to the machine’s influences but the boy’s stagnant action was the main trigger to the machine’s automatic activation.

What if the human was currently experiencing one of the _exceptional_ cases?

It was infrequent but not unheard of. If this was the case, then, no one could interfere with the _deals_ the boy was engaging in.

He had exactly thirty days to combat the feeling of completion before he permanently disappeared from his world’s existence.

The gauge’s range was in the middle, staggering close to the maximum. It was almost the time.

“I hope this is what you long for from the bottom of your soul, Hikari Netto,” she whispered. “If I am wrong, I truly wish you to overcome your heart’s desire.”

She truly did, because in her line of work of granting individuals of the past generations’ wishes, no soul was immune to a dream-come-true wish. Not one ever took back their wish with a wish.

Hasegawa Genkei was one of the living evidences of the universally untold truth.

When the gauge finally hit to its maximum range, a bright white portal hatched open.

At the very same time, Netto’s body levitated into the air as he glowed blindingly; orb-shaped life force emerged from his heart. Amaterasu watched helplessly as the glowing orb soared inside the portal, being completely engulfed. Shortly, the portal slowly shrank and disappeared, leaving it no trace of existence.

Netto’s lifeless body fell, but large hands captured the vessel before it landed on the floor.

She reached over to an area nearby the wall as she pressed a finger against the wall’s specific section, causing it to shrink inside. It bounced back when a huge rectangular-shaped object slowly revealed itself from the wall, appearing to be a queen-sized bed.

She placed the boy on the bed’s surface, letting the body lay undisturbed.

“Now…” She flicked her fingers and multiple holographic screens manifested all at once. “How shall I explain his condition to his companions without provoking them…?”

-RKNT-

Chestnut-colored eyes fluttered open to the stable sound of loud-pitched beeping. The infiltration of the natural sunlight caused his eyes to shut once more and forgot about the beeping, the accursed source of his awakening.

It was already morning. He hated it.

The pair of eyes, once opened and did enough adaptation, stared at the pure white-like snow ceiling. It was peaceful and clean. Was it just his imagination or did the ceiling look unusually different than the usual ceiling? Maybe his eyes weren’t clear enough. _Oh, who cares?_

His nose was pervaded with something artificially clean but strong too. Strange, his room never smelt like this before. Did his mom change the fragrance of the fabric softener? Instead of fresh citrus, he smelt overwhelming odor of iodoform and it wasn’t to his best liking.

Feeling fatigued, he rose from his position as slowly as possible. He stopped shifting when he felt every muscle in his body ached badly. He groaned uncomfortably at the soreness. What kind of strenuous activity did he do yesterday? Adjusting into a sitting position with closed eyes and carded fingers, he tried to recall but his mind was drawing a blank. No, no, he _did_ something.

He couldn’t quite remember, but he was sure he did something! He was getting there. Think. _Think!_

When he opened his eyes, he blinked. He blinked a few more times.

A thought struck his mind. Where… was he?

He wasn’t in his room! This wasn’t his bed, and this! The clothes he wore weren’t his! Wait. With haste, he unbuttoned the pajamas and when he revealed his bare upper body, he saw five patches sticking on different parts of his body and each patch was connected with a slightly thick elastic string that all bridged to a machine with green screen of words and numbers.

It was a heartbeat monitor. Why was his heart being monitored? What was happening!? Why was he hospitalized!?

Panic strongly bubbled in his chest and the loud beeping from the machine grew erratic in tune, revealing the irregular rhythm of his heartbeat.

“Rockman–” His PET. It wasn’t here. He looked everywhere! His PET wasn’t anywhere near him. Rockman wasn’t with him!

 _‘Calm down. Calm down,_ ’ he told himself, biting his lip. He racked his brain and properly reviewed back the things he did before he unknowingly ended up in a hospital bed. No wonder this room smelt disgustingly like chemical.

_No, focus!_

Okay, okay. He was in a hospital. Proof: he saw a nurse passed by his room from the square-windowed door.

But why would he be admitted into a hospital? Was there any sort of critical reason? Was he sick? He could be sick then. But he couldn’t remember getting sick. Last time he got sick was three weeks ago when he shoved too much of MaHa Ichiban’s curry in his mouth! He stayed at home, spending his time agonizing at the hours of stomachache; hoping for the inner torment to mellow down through natural digestion.

Then again, he never once went to a hospital for any treatment when he got injured from some overwhelming battles he engaged in with past enemies. Despite the ugly blue and purple bruises decorating sections of his body, he endured the pain like any strong fighter would do. He didn’t tell anyone about it, not mom or dad or his friends. They would worry. Especially Rockman; that worrier of a Navi would snitch on him to everyone about his condition for sure. He knew what he was doing wasn’t healthy to his body, but he got used to it. He did take care of his bruises secretly at night by applying medicinal oil, balm or plasters when he had it bad – Jasmine once told him about this useful stuff, something about improving his blood circulation. Thank God he never went back home with broken bones or huge gashes. Or that traditional medicine wouldn’t work its miracle. The thought that he’d be really bedridden in a hospital for weeks wasn’t a pleasant reminder.

So back to the topic; he received no sign of injuries, no stomachache, no dizziness, and no needles pricking into his body; except for the heart monitor thing. Overall, he concluded that he was perfectly healthy! Why was he in a hospital then?

He was getting in circles at this point. He crossed his arms, furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side; thinking even _harder_. “Maybe me being here doesn’t have anything to do with the hospital,” he murmured in his hand, eyes narrowed dubiously. “But I don’t remember how I end up being in here… and Rockman’s not with me. Oh yeah, of course Rock’s not with me. He’s acquiring information in the NetCity and I couldn’t contact him…” His eyes widened as he snapped his fingers. That was right! He was inside Hasegawa’s secret base, waiting for the deity Navi to return back while he… slept.

A frown etched on his face, feeling deeply disturbed.

Was he correct to assume that Amaterasu had injured him while he was at his most vulnerable state; consequently to the reason why he was here? Did she _lie_ to him about promising to not hurt him just to lull him in a false sense of security?

But he didn’t see IV sticking into his vein; or see any injury; or feel any pain.

Nothing made sense!

“Gah!” Smoke of frustration puffed out from his ears as he briskly ruffled his brown hair in open irritation before letting out a deflated sigh. “I give up! I’ll ask Enzan or Rockman to explain everything to me after they get here.”

Probably… not Rockman at the moment though. He had an inkling of suspicion that the PET, along with his NetNavi, was delivered to SciLab for Papa to fix whatever glitches existing in the gadget. He decided to visit his dad to check the condition of the PET after his release, and retrieved it back once the maintenance was completed. He did plan ahead to visit his dad after all.

Plopping back into the soft mattress, he hissed at the impact he caused to his soreness before staring at the ceiling and sluggishly blinked. Then again, he was bored, unreservedly so. This was one of the reasons why he preferred home to hospitals. There was literally nothing to do.

And when there was nothing to do, his bored mind started whirling and calibrating ideas for shenanigans into the following action, just to eradicate boredom.

He jerked up with an impish grin spreading across his face. Why not explore the hospital? It wasn’t like his health was in a critical condition. Usually, friends and family alike told him that his ideas weren’t the best there ever was. Too bad for them, he liked the design of his own mischief. _This_ was just a pitifully mild sauce.

‘Yes’, his mind agreed. ‘Fresh air would be a nice change from this stifling chemical odor.’

He tore the patches off from his person and laid the soles of his feet on the smoothly cold material, shivering at the unpleasant frosty contact as he tried to cope with it. His body was still feeling _sore_.

He took steps closer to the door and twisted the knob, slowly unlocking it open. His narrowed eyes peered outside of the room, checking to his right, and to his left.

No nurses, no doctors that were nearby, only a handful of unsuspecting patients.

‘Hmmm… the coast is clear,’ he thought, tip-toeing out from the room and giving another glance to his left and right before escaping the room without a second thought. He quietly went straight ahead before making a twist to the right side, passing by a shriveled old man who was shakily walking with the support of a walking frame.

He didn’t know where he should go, but he had to avoid the staffs from noticing him if he wanted to have his fun.

Speak of the devil, he saw a nurse. Swiftly, he expertly hid behind a wall as the woman in white uniform continued walking across the hallway without noticing a boy concealing himself in the shadow. If she saw him, his exploration inside the hospital would be over, and he’d probably have to endure another hours of being bedridden in that anti-entertainment room.

Counting down from ten, when he determined that it was safe for him to come out from his hiding space; his breath hitched when he felt a hand clamped tightly onto his right shoulder. He felt sweat dripping from his face in apprehension.

“Where on earth do you think you’re going, Netto-kun?” His eyes widened. _This voice._ He swirled around expecting to face a familiar feature – but it wasn’t someone he expected and from the look of the other’s expression, he had a feeling trouble was lurking ahead of him.

“You!” he exclaimed, finger pointing accusingly. He _knew_ him, but he didn’t know he was real.

“Yes, _me_?” answered the boy sarcastically, no amusement in his tone was present as he crossed his arms, asserting air of displeasure. Through the boy’s movement, Netto noticed he was holding a bouquet of fresh sunflowers and a white plastic bag of unidentified stuff hanging on his arm.

“I’ve seen you twice in my dreams! How are you even here?” wondered Netto as he tilted his head in confusion before approaching nearer to observe every little detail of the boy’s feature curiously. Now that he got a clearer view, he was certain that they boy was slightly _different_ from his dreams – nothing of his physique, but of his color. His hair was brown-colored, but its tone lighter. His eyes were the same shades as his own chestnut colored eyes, but his irises shone a tint of emerald hue. “Or am I still dreaming?” he added hopefully. He had to be. He must be. There was no logical explanation to how he ended up in a hospital without any reason. _This_ was a dream.

“So does this mean I’m dreaming of meeting you the third time now?”

The boy grew quiet, shooting him a worrying look and Netto noticed it, taking insult at it.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He stared at Netto as if he was _delirious_.

The boy then did something unexpected by boldly pressing a warm palm on his forehead – a nostalgic yet habitual action he recognized from his mom when she checked for his temperature, and he didn’t like the familiar insinuation. He removed the other’s hand from him with his own and scowled. “Why are you checking my temperature?”

“No fever…”

“Of course I’ve no fever! I’m not sick!” he denied truthfully with a little bit of force, balling his hands into fists. “I’ve never once been admitted into a hospital.” The last statement came out a little too proudly.

With thinned lips, the boy held his palm up in resignation. “I’m not doing this with you. It’s pointless. Let’s just bring you back to your room.” His hand circled around the other’s wrist as he dragged him back to his room – the starting point of Netto’s escapade.

“Huh? Why should I go back there again!? I’m feeling _fine_!” When the other boy felt him struggle, he tightened his hold around him, making it difficult for Netto to remove his limb from the other’s vice-like grip. He wouldn’t tell the other boy out of his petty pride but he was feeling, although _slightly_ , abnormally tired, his body ached too. He was just too stubborn to act or speak his mind out.

“You are not _fine_ until the doctor said so. You can’t even break off from my hold,” argued the other, unfazed by the other brunet’s defiance. “At that fact alone, what you need is rest, not running around like a brainless toddler, which you aren’t.”

Those few lines of words were just insulting him! It riled him up to be even more violent with his attempt to escape from his captive.

“Argh! Let go!”

“Would you stop struggling then?”

“No!”

“Stop acting like a baby! Or I’ll call the staffs to restrain you back to your room!” he barked.

“Oh, do it then! I don’t care!” he taunted, smirking daringly. Immersing the feeling of a victor, he knew he hit a nerve when he saw the boy bared his teeth.

Eyes ablaze, the other growled, “Don’t think I won’t do it, because I will.”

“Humph. Try it then.”

“ _Nur–_ ” He stopped in mid-word when a loud grumbling chimed in like a passing-by steam train.

…

…

“Are you hungry, Netto-kun?”

“Famished, actually,” answered Netto with his face bright red and eyes looking shamefully at the ground.

“Good thing I bring enough food with me.” He added on purpose, “You promise you’ll behave if I gave you food?”

He bobbed his head. “Yeup! Unless you are giving me shitty food, I won’t guarantee it.”

Eyes widened, the boy gasped scandalously. “ _Language!_ And I assure you the food won’t taste like anything you crudely word them.”

With that, Netto’s adventure was over, for the meantime, anyway. Until his stomach was fueled with food and him brimming with energy.

Once they arrived at their destination, Netto sat on the bed whilst the other sat on a chair besides him.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Netto eagerly took the _bento_ and bamboo chopsticks offered by the other and popped open the hat of the container as he silently assessed. _Smells good, and the presentation is very neat and appetizing to the eyes._ “Itadakimasu!” he announced before digging in his first bite heartily.

His eyes broadened like saucers and he swallowed the food. It tasted precisely like his mom’s cooking that he nearly choked at the unexpected flavor spreading across his tongue.

“What’s wrong? Is the food not suited to your taste?” asked the boy worryingly when Netto stopped eating at the first bite.

“No, I mean yes, um, _no_? Sorry,” Netto offered awkwardly when he gave him a strange look. “It’s really delicious and it’s exactly my taste! This grub you’ve given me tastes like Mama’s cooking.”

The boy looked sort of happy and relieved? That was a strange reaction. “Well, that’s because it _is_ Mama’s cooking, silly,” he teased, getting up from his comfortable position and placed down the plastic bag on top of the bedside’s drawer as he walked past Netto’s bed. “The other _bento_ is for you, if you want more.”

“Huh? You aren’t eating your fill?” He pointed at the untouched plastic bag with the chopsticks.

“I can eat at home. It’s obvious you need it more than I do.” He arranged the sunflowers in the vase that was spotted nearby the window.

“Thanks! Then I won’t hesitate for a second helping.”

He laughed softly. “Go ahead.”

Netto gave him a sidelong glance. “Those sunflowers are pretty,” he observed; food in mouth. He had never seen one grow so huge as well.

He hummed. “I picked the healthiest-looking petals from our backyard.”

“I originally thought that you bring it for someone else,” he stated while chewing. Yes, he was under the impression that the boy was visiting someone; family or a friend or an acquaintance of his. He looked like someone who sincerely cared for anyone.

“Well, it’s for you.” Apparently not the answer he expected based on his guesswork, since he was a stranger to Netto. “And don’t talk while you eat please. It’s bad manner.”

“Yeah, yeah.” His way of reprimanding reminded him of mom, Rockman and Meiru in one bowl of cookie dough mixture. What a scary combination. “You sure worry a lot.”

The other turned to him, facing him in the eye. “It’s my job,” he replied with conviction.

That got him one of his brows raised. How did the boy even know him? His wild guess: his mom. She must have told him about her son.

“Your job? You are a really caring person, or just a busybody,” he commented idly and it was without tack before he randomly asked: “Are you my neighbor?” If he was his neighbor then it would make sense that his mom indeed had told the boy about Netto, and how the boy knew him. Nothing embarrassing, he hoped.

“Umm… I suppose we are technically _neighbors_ ,” he responded after some hum of contemplation. “Although I’m aware that you’re being hospitalized right now, please don’t ask strange questions, Netto-kun.”

Netto didn’t take note of the other boy’s serious yet anxious tone as he continued, “Well, thanks for clarifying. Are you visiting me because Mama asks you to?”

“Partially, but I come to visit you out of my free will. Besides, Mama will visit you in the afternoon,” he added as an afterthought.

“That’s… nice of you?” Wow, someone other than the usual friends he hung out with visited him willingly? His mom must have made a pretty good impression about him.

The boy shook his head. “The the least I can do for you is to stay by your side until you recover at the time being. You should rest more after you finished eating.”

“Yeah, I plan to.” _At home._

As silence prolonged in the synthetic-smelling atmosphere, the light brown-haired boy then looked over at him and pressed his lips together, seemingly uncertain of something. When Netto caught him looking at him, he noticed the boy looked like he wanted to ask him something but hesitated.

“What is it?” he encouraged. The brunet was becoming obvious with his nervousness that he could detect even the smallest anxiety within the boy, which Netto often failed to distinguish that in others when they were constantly versatile with their emotion.

“Um… Netto-kun,” he uttered, still hesitant despite of Netto’s assurance. “You can avoid answering this if you’re uncomfortable, but I… I want to know what happened to you during those ten years.”

“Huh? Ten years ago?” He settled down the chopsticks in the food container. Confused at what the other boy was getting at, he pried, “Why would you want to know what happened to me ten years ago? You gotta be more specific. All I know I had a fairly normal childhood, like any kid.”

“I mean,” the boy paused, licking his upper lip. “You went missing ten years ago.”

He was fortunate that he didn’t shove a huge bite of rice into his mouth or he’d have a piece of food stuck in his throat.

 _What?_ “What? Are you joking with me?”

“I never jest in a serious conversation such as this, Netto-kun,” the boy persisted.

The patient gulped. His half-eaten _bento_ was now forgotten. “B-b-but I can’t be missing for _ten years_ if I was–” _just taking a short nap on an investigative mission._ Was he really attacked by Amaterasu during his most vulnerable state? Was that why he was aching all over? Was that why he couldn’t remember? Was he in a coma and held captive for _ten whole years_ of his life? If he was missing ten years ago, he’d grow at least a few centimeters tall and had lower vocal pitch!

All of these didn’t make any sense at all!

“Netto-kun?”

“G-give me a few moments…” he weakly requested.

He _needed_ information; he needed it to erase these spirals of doubts, obscurity and bubbling insanity forming into lumps of tangled balls in his mind. All of sudden, he felt sick and dizzy at the confusion he bombed into his head. Desperate for some grip of his sanity, he closed his eyes and stopped his thinking process as he took a huge breath and exhaled to calm himself. Opening his eyes, he picked one question out of all ten to start with, “Could you tell me how I went missing ten years ago?”

Grimacing, the other replied, “It started when you heard something awful you’re not supposed to when you were younger. It was quite a sensitive topic for a child your age. You escaped from home after… overhearing the truth, and our parents were terribly worried, because you were gone for so long that they had to involve the police to search all over for you. Your disappearance became a kidnapping case.” A hand clenched to his other hand as he continued, “They found nothing that could relate to your disappearance, no trace of you and the case went cold after five years of thorough investigation, until five years later, just yesterday, you showed up.”

He felt his mind go blank, even whiter and emptier than a new sheet of paper, because none of the incidents he explained to Netto had ever happened. He _never_ ran away from home. No police was searching all over for him, because he was recruited as a part of them, a cyber-related section of their force; a hero, currently working on a mission with his Navi. _And_ he clearly remembered _never_ being kidnapped; it was the most ridiculous assumption out of all things – because that _never_ happened anywhere nearer in the past. If this young stranger in front of him had somehow lied, it was a very convincing bullshit. For what purpose, he thought suspiciously.

“Where was I found at?” He’d go along with the flow, for now.

“You were found lying against a 2,000 years old tree that’s rooted near the forestry ground of The Sun Deity Shrine,” revealed the boy, eyes locking on Netto’s two warm browns. “I was the one who found you.”

Too perfect. Each word from his locution divulged to him elicited such details, too calculated, too impeccable – _too perfect_ to call, or even consider it truly real. “You?”

A slight nod from the boy confirmed his short question of doubt. He still doubted.

He was found in a forest; on top of that, the area with a close distance of a shrine. Specifically, it was the shrine of the sun deity: Amaterasu. He vaguely remembered in the professor’s holographic entry regarding ‘The Sun Deity Shrine’. Was the shrine the boy mentioned the same shrine that belonged to the ancient entity he and the professor encountered? A high chance it was a yes.

Just from that unearthly name made him rethink twice of the whole story’s credibility.

If the boy – he eyed at him whom was giving him the honest eyes – was telling the truth, he was correct to assume that whatever or whoever was at fault that caused him to end up in this ‘hospitalized’ situation only narrowed down to one individual he could think of: Amaterasu, the alien, deity Navi. On the other hand, if this sob story of him as a missing-kidnapped child was all a lie, it followed that Amaterasu had nothing to do with this, equivalently meant that _this_ clever, elaborate tale centered on him was a sick prank planned by the other rugrat.

In that case, in order to close the case to a solution, he asked more questions, determined to capture lies and inconsistency from the boy’s statements. Time to connect some dots. “So you were the one who found me… So I was just there, unconscious? No one was with me?”

“I don’t know about that,” he uttered, slightly tilting his head up with eyes directing to the sideway. “But you were _unconscious_ and _alone_ at that time when I found you. I couldn’t carry you downstairs without dropping you a few times, so I immediately called Papa and the ambulance arrived after some minutes.”

That wasn’t helping him to connect dots. So he moved on to ask him the next question, “Why would you go to a shrine anyway?”

He closed his eyes, smiling. “It’s quiet and calming. It’s one of my favorite places to do some reading after class is dismissed.”

“I… see.”

That… was plausible. He looked like the studious type. And Netto wasn’t the type of person to overcomplicate things, so let’s just say he accepted the other’s answer as it was. However, under unique circumstances such as this situation, he couldn’t help but felt anxious about his statement, knowing that he didn’t know anything about him. It could be another lie, but he couldn’t prove it.

Thinking it was futile to drag on the questions for answers, he decided to end the question-answer session. But then another thought hit him. When Netto mentioned his parents, the other boy went along with it. He spoke with clear revelation, which Netto realized it now, that their parents were the same. To put it simply, the mysterious boy identified _Netto’s_ parents as Mama and Papa, which was odd.

Questions began to swim in his head like goldfishes in a bowl and he decided to spew one out, “Hey… I’m grateful to you for explaining stuffs to me, but it seems that you know me and you seem awfully close with my parents since you call them Papa and Mama, not even Meiru-chan addresses them with those terms. I know we aren’t just neighbors. Have we… met before?”

Eyes widened with consternation, the boy, voice slightly cracked, said softly, “Netto-kun… I’m afraid I don’t quite understand your implications. Are you saying that you don’t know who I am?”

This wasn’t the reaction he expected. The other looked like he was about to shed tears. “I… All I know is your name: Saito. But that’s cuz you told me from my dreams. The rest, uh, well, huh. Am I supposed to know you? If I’m supposed to, then I’m sorry. I don’t personally know you,” he admitted nervously, his throat beginning to itch with dryness. “I-is your name really Saito, though?”

He watched the other brunet nodded grimly as he sat back on the chair, leaning forward with his fingers crossed together on his lap. Letting out a heavy sigh with eyes on the ground, he remarked, “It’s too good to be true how I found you just like that, physically unharmed and all. I should have noticed the symptoms from our earlier conversation. Your behavior, the inconsistency patterns of your questions’ choices… But I can’t blame you. Ten years of us being apart was undeniably a long time. No wonder you forget.”

“S-so we met before?”

Netto watched the side of Saito’s lips curled up. It was a sad smile. “We’ve known each other from our mother’s womb, Netto-kun.”

“Stop clowning around!”

“I’m not!” he yelled, voice thick with emotion. “We share the same surname, slept under the same blanket when we were babies, eat the same food Mama makes for breakfast and dinner, share our clothes, toys and books, bothered Papa in his lab for toys when we’re bored and living in the same house with our parents!” Desperate brown eyes looked straight into the same colored eyes, begging the other to remember him. “Netto-kun, I’m your twin brother, Hikari Saito.”

Several seconds ticked by as Netto tore his eyes away from him, unable to reply back.

Saito rose up; his movement shaky. His smile fragile and eyes pained, but Netto was unable to see any of those. “I suppose it can’t be helped. People can’t just magically remember the memories they had when they were toddlers. I’ll make a call to Mama and Papa that you’ve awoken. I’ll be back.”

Heading to the exit, he twisted the doorknob. “Saito.” Netto’s voice halted him in his track. “Do we share the same NetNavi?”

Twisting toward him, he uttered in confusion, “A NetNavi…?”

“Yes. He’s my best friend. His name’s Rockman,” introduced Netto, facing the other with a serious expression.

“We don’t have a NetNa–”

“Is that so…?” he cut off with a hoarse whisper.

“Netto-kun?”

“Brother or not brother, twin or not twin. This world, this dream I’m currently in, the world you’re living in, is a lie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be some conflicts on the next chapter! Look forward to it!  
> Some of the conversation Netto and Saito were having will be confusing to some of you. Feel free to ask from the comment section!

**Author's Note:**

> I actually want to post this for a while, but I'm not sure how it will progress. So, I've been in love with this pairing since I was a teenager and really wanted to write something for the adorable pair, but when I wanted to find some motivation through the anime, games; some of them weren't even subbed and the episodes are really long, I don't know where to start. That kind of discouraged me since I don't have a drop of understanding about the Japanese language at that time. When I look into their pairing one day because I was bored and curious, a lot of arts about their pairing pop up in pixiv, twitter, I start to gain some of my motivation and write something. Thanks to lots of you beautiful and creative artists as well as authors, here it is!


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